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Galatians 5:20 – The Seduction of Idolatry
A. It is Subtle
1. There is a sin which a Catholic priest once declared that no one had ever confessed to him –
- a sin so deadly that the wrath of God comes upon men because of it;
- a sin so common that probably everybody has at some time been guilty of it;
- a sin so gross in the sight of God as to be classed with fornication, idolatry, murder, and such like;
- a sin so subtle, that men most guilty of it seem to be most unconscious of it;
- a sin that has led to the ruin of homes, to the doom of cities, the downfall of kings, the overthrow of empires, the collapse of civilizations, the damnation of an apostle, of ministers of the Gospel and of millions of less conspicuous men.
- When Achan and his household were stoned, it was because of this sin.
- When Eli and his sons lost the priesthood and died miserably, it was at root because of this sin.
- When Saul lost his kingdom, it was because this sin had subtly undermined his loyalty to God.
- When Ahab died and the dogs licked his blood, he was meeting the doom of this sin.
- When David fell from heights of God’s tender favor and fellowship, and brought shame and confusion upon himself, and incurred God’s hot displeasure and life-long trouble, it was because of this sin.
- When Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, went out from the presence of the prophet smitten with leprosy white as snow, it was because of this sin.
- When Judas betrayed the Master with a kiss, thus making his name a synonym of a traitor, and bringing, upon himself the death of a dog and a fool, it was because of this sin.
- When Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead at Peter’s feet, they suffered the dread penalty of this sin.
- It is the sin of Covetousness – which the Holy Spirit said is idolatry.
- Eze.14:1
B. It Starts Sincerely
1. Illustration: frog in boiling water
2. The subtlety of idolatry often begins with noble intentions:
3. 2 Kings 18:4 – He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.
a. Most likely “it had been carefully preserved, as a memorial of God’s goodness to their fathers in the wilderness and a traditional evidence of the truth of that story….Good things, when idolized, are better parted with than kept.” Matthew Henry, p.797.
4. Rev.19:10; 22:8
a. “John (by including this angel worship twice) is recognizing that idolatry can infiltrate into the life and worship of the church by other means than the seductions of the whore, the coercions of the monster, or the Quisling behavior of the Nicolaitans. Even such a fanatical upholder of pure religion as he himself was could be so impressed by the revelation that came to him and the scriptures which were its principle stimulus, by the liturgical forms and the imagery in which it found expression, and by the religious experience that it evoked, that in the midst of his passionate appeal against idolatry, he found himself worshipping that which is not God. Idolatry is more than burning incense before a man‑made statue. It is to accord to anyone or anything other than God an absolute worth and a controlling significance in the life of man. The angels’ protest is a salutary warning to all crusaders not to mistake the cause they champion for the one true God.” Caird, REVELATION, p.237
C. It is a Substitute (Exodus 32)
1. They broke the 2nd command, not the first.
2. The Israelites did not worship a new God, but rather worshiped Yahweh through a new manner ‑ the image of the calf ‑ vv.4,,5,8
3. The golden calf was not a substitute for Yahweh, but rather for Moses ‑ v.1
a. We will make application later, but notice that men many times are beheld in manner in which they are almost deified.
4. Likewise, the golden calves in the Northern Kingdom were dedicated to the worship of Jehovah.
D. It is Sensual (i.e., appeals to the flesh)
1. It is considered a work of the flesh – Galatians 5:20 – idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
2. “It is interesting and it is significant that the idol worship comes immediately after the group of words which describe sexual sins. In the ancient world idol worship and sexual immorality were closely connected. The write of the Wisdom of Solomon says: ‘The idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and the invention of them was the corruption of life’ (Wisd.14:12).” (Barclay, p.35)
E. It is Social (i.e., popular)
1. Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with people worshipping idols, which is why God wanted the Israelites to expel the Canaanites out of their midst.
F. It is Safe (Or Appears to Be)
1. When reading the period of the Judges and Kings, one sad fact overwhelmingly – and even numbingly – is present: the draw of idolatry. It is easy for us to isolate the sensualism involved in fertility cults and wholly blame that as the sole cause. After all, we are good Christians who are not overtly affected by sexual sin (right?). We live good moral lives (don’t we?). We don’t get pulled down in the gutter of immorality (do we?). Our clothing style and computer files are pure (yes?). So it is easy – because sinful sensualism doesn’t apply to us – to isolate the sexual draw of idolatry. It is safe for us to point that pure finger of ours. Hopefully.
Yes, I think that the overt sensual draw is part of idolatry’s power, but short sighted. That answer is too easy, too nonpersonal. But look deeper, in some pagan religions there was human sacrifice, even of one’s own offspring – hardly an act of sensual pleasure. So could there have been another attraction to idolatry? Listen to the following quote – listen and apply:
Israel believed in a God who had intervened in her history: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God-who-brought-us-out-of-slavery. This God guided the people when they were wandering in the desert and he brought them into the land of Canaan.
Now, however, Israel had settled down: the people have fields and towns. What concerns them is how to make sure that the soil and their flocks are fertile. To whom should they pray to have rain in due season? They found an established religion which was well equipped to answer these needs: the Baals, divinized forms of the storm and the rain, and the Astartes, divinized forms of sexuality and fertility….
A God who intervened in history – that was all very well. But one had to make a living, and it was safer to rely on the Baals.
We should not imagine too quickly that this problem is an obsolete one: the Baals have simply changed their name. The Christian may easily experience the same conflict: he believes in a God who has intervened in history and in his son Jesus, but what does this faith have to do with economic necessities? Is it not safer to rely on the ‘powers’ of nature (one’s bank balance, one’s own skills and power)? (How To Read the Bible, Charpentier, p.47)
Ouch! We’ve got to make a living, right? That finger is no longer pointing out at others. It is poking us in the eye!
2. Colossians 3:5 NASB – Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
C. “Beginning with the prophets of the 8th cent. B.C., was an emphatic rejection of any material representations of God. Amos protested against the Canaanite high places and the images of their gods (Amos 5:26). Hosea denounced the stubborn harlotry of Israel (Hos.2:26,17; 8:4‑6; 13:2). Isaiah, looking upon the appalling apostasy of the age, grieved over the golden images, the work of men’s own hands, and the sins of the new‑moon festivals (Isa.2:8; 40:18‑20; 41:6,7; 44:9‑20; 45:20; 46:1,2,5‑7)….In the period before the end of the kingdom of Judah, the prophets struggled against the widespread idolatry that filled the land. Zephaniah warned against the worship of astral deities, against Milcom, and against pagan superstitions (Zeph.1:2‑9). Habakkuk pronounced woes upon those who would worship a god made with their own hands (Hab.2:18,19). No prophet fought the apostasies of Judah more vehemently than Jeremiah. He inveighed against the sacrifices to Molech, the worship of the Baalim, the offering of cakes to the queen of heaven, and against the gods that were as many as their cities (Jer.2:23‑25; 8:1;,2; 10:2‑10; 11:13; 23:13,14)….Ezekiel revealed that worship of animals, of the vegetation god Tammuz, and of the sun were taking place within the temple area itself in the final years before the destruction of Jerusalem (Ezek.8:7‑16).” The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol.3, pp.246, 247.
F. It is Secular – SECULAR HUMANISM
1. “The word `secular’ by definition refers to `the temporal rather than spiritual.’ `Secularism’ is a doctrinal belief that morality is based solely in regard to the temporal well‑being of mankind to the exclusion of all belief in God, a supreme being, or a future eternity. `Humanism’ is a philosophy or attitude that is concerned with human being, their achievement and interests, and the condition or quality of being human, rather than with the abstract beings and problems of theology. “`Secularism’ is nontheistic and `humanism’ is secular because it excludes the basic tenets of theism. Therefore, Secular Humanism is nontheisitc. However, while Secular Humanism is nontheisitc, it is religious because it directs itself toward religious beliefs and practices that are in active opposition to traditional theism. Humanism is a doctrine centered solely on human interests and values. Therefore, humanism deifies Man collectively and individually, whereas theism worships God. SECUALR HUMANISM, p.7
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