The Impact of Idolatry

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NIV)

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

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RECAP:

- There is a hole in every human, an infinite gap which can only be filled by the infinite God.

- Everything else we try to fill the hole with, rather than putting God first, is an idol.

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It's been a couple of days since my last post, and if I'm being honest the reason for that is because as I've been beginning to write about it, God has been challenging me about the idols in my own life. There's no point in preaching this stuff if I'm not applying it to my own life, and over these last couple of days God has been revealing things to me so I can be dealing with these issues alongside the rest of you!

We've been going through the topic of idolatry, starting to identify the place that it has in our life and how to identify it, but before we continue I feel it's worth discussing WHY this is such a big deal.

Idolatry is something that has consequences in near, far, wide, narrow, individual, and community ways, and it is devastating because it disconnects us from the only true source of life - it's like plugging your phone in to charge from your laptop instead of from the wall. It might keep charging for a bit, but it's going to be way slower. Not only that, but eventually the laptop will run out of power too, because it runs on the same energy as the phone does. It's only by connecting both of them to the wall that you'll find you have a strong, stable, lasting, sustainable source of power.

If we take a look at the passage from Romans above, you'll notice that idolatry is right at the beginning of Paul's list of lifestyles that disqualify people from inheriting the kingdom of God. A couple of things to note: firstly, he IS talking about lifestyles, not choices that you make once by accident. Every single one of these requires an intentional decision to follow through on something, whether that decision is tempered by the Spirit or not. God has grace for us when we make mistakes, but He will not tolerate deliberate, reckless disobedience.

Secondly, some of you may read this and think, "Well this is talking about going to heaven, so I've got time." Think about it for a moment. Since when has the Bible been about man going to God? The recurring narrative of the Bible is God coming to us and bringing us a stop closer to Him. The construction of the tabernacle, then the temple, then the coming of Jesus, then the coming of the Holy Spirit all point towards God meeting us where we are at, so why do we think heaven would be any different? Based on the trajectory the Bible takes, I'd suggest that we are not going to heaven but that heaven is coming here. In fact, Jesus Himself supports this in Matthew 4:17 -

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven HAS COME NEAR."

When we allow idols to rule our lives, we separate ourselves from the current, present power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. We stop living lives of power, authority, and grace, and start living lives of sin, slavery, and weakness. Idolatry doesn't just have long-term, abstract consequences - it has an immediate, definitive impact on our lives, our ability to witness, and our freedom in Christ. Still think you've got time?

A really clear example of this is the story of Achan in Joshua 7. Basically, the Israelites have just conquered the city of Jericho - not by their own strength, but by following God obediently and watching His power move in their lives. Afterward, God told them to give everything to Him - not a single person or object in that city was to be kept. Achan, however, grabbed a couple of things he fancied the look of, and the entire nation suffered as a result. They lost their next battle because one man had put something before God. It was only when the rest of the Israelites dealt with the issue and put God first again that they started moving in His power.

So how did they get back on track? We'll discuss that next.