Jonah the prophet said it best in Jonah 2:8, “Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty.”
God told Jonah to go to the people of Nineveh and to tell them to repent. Instead of obeying God, he went the opposite direction, boarding a ship, and set sail to flee from the presence of God’s command.
The modern-day idols of the church today may not be as obvious and blatant as Jonah’s disobedience to God’s commands, but they are still nonetheless eroding the fabric of the church’s ability to be effective in its mission.
As one observes the landscape of the modern church, it appears like Jonah, it has decided to ignore the commands of God and go the opposite direction of God’s wishes to maintain its perceived outcome.
The idols sneaking into the church today are not new per se, but they are sneaky due to the massive biblical illiteracy that plagues modern day Christians today who want to be “liked” by modern-day society. The interesting thing about all these idols is that they find their roots somewhat in the Biblical text, but their applications are misguided.
Most idols in the church begin as half-truths and fester into full-fledge deception over time.
IDOL #1: Love is love.
When this idol began, many Christians were quoting the verse, 1 John 4:8, “God is love.” And yes, God is love. But the verse was being misused to brow beat people into not holding others accountable. It started off as, “We just need to love them, and that love will help them find their way back to the truth of God.” Sadly, it didn’t work. “God is love” became the mantra for feeling the freedom to choose whatever sexual orientation or gender the person felt best for them devoid of God’s biblical view of the issue. Other scriptures were ignored for the supreme worship of, “God is love.”
Over time “God is love” morphed into “Love is love.” It sneakily and subtly upended God as the designer and definer of love and placed it firmly into the hands of the one who wanted to define it and design it as they saw fit and best for themselves.
In the Old Testament the people of God were given strict moral code regarding sexual behavior and those same guidelines were reiterated again in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on love sums it up best in verse six when the Apostle Paul writes, “Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”
Sadly, the modern-day church’s desire to redefine love is destroying the moral compass and that is eroding the fabric of the family which will be the sad dismantling of our modern society. The church must stand for truth while maintaining the love of God, but truth apart from love is neither.
IDOL #2: Don’t judge!
Maybe the most misquoted verse in the Bible is Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.”
The second most misquoted is John 8:7, “He without sin cast the first stone.”
Anytime one attempts to hold anyone accountable in the church today, these two verses seem to be quoted, that is misquoted. The God of the Bible is consistent. There are many places in the Bible where we are commanded to make right judgments.
The Apostle Paul even goes so far to say in 1 Corinthians 5:12, “Are you not judges of those who are in the church?”
God calls His people to make right judgments of one other but never to be judgmental. When one is judgmental, they are coming from the place of misguided perception of themselves and a misguided understanding of the purpose of judgment.
The Bible makes it clear that all have sinned. This is the mindset by how we judge. The Bible has also made it clear that God’s judgment for His people is for the purpose of restoration and not simply destruction. That is why we judge.
The mindset and mode by which one passes judgment matters to God, but the absence of judgment is not the solution, sadly it is the problem.
God says, “Judge rightly.” John 7:24 says it best, “Judge with righteous judgment.”
IDOL #3: All roads lead to God.
When it comes to eternal salvation, most would like to believe that all roads lead to God, but sadly this is not the case. This sort of mindset is known as “Universalism” and has been present as long as we can recall. Universalism is the belief that “all roads lead to God” meaning, all gods are the same god, just have different names. This concept and idea play well in society today because it removes any moral or spiritual responsibility from the person in focus.
However, Jesus holds a much different view. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13 “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”
Verse 14 says, “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Jesus makes it clear that few find their way into heaven. Now some may say, well, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more than one way to get there. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me.”
Jesus makes it clear that the path is narrow, and the only way is Jesus, Himself.
IDOL #4: God wants me to be happy.
God is not a kill joy to our happiness, but neither is He a permissive Father at any cost. God is a holy God and desires for our actions to reflect His character. He puts His people through the furnace of affliction from time to time to purify the silver of His people’s souls. Happiness is never God’s goal for His people.
He says in 1 Peter 1:16, “Be holy because I am Holy.” Holiness is God’s goal for us, and happiness is the by-product of His people’s obedience to Him.
IDOL #5: God wants me to be blessed.
Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey me.” God wants His people to obey Him. Obedience to God shows adoration to God. No where in the Bible does it ever say, “Be ye blessed regardless!” Many times, God calls His people to obedience and the by-product of obedience is blessing. God does want His people to experience the by-product of obedience. He wants them to enjoy the blessings but not worship them. God calls His people to seek His face and not His hand, first.
The seeking of God’s hand first always leads to idolatry in God’s people but the surrender to God in obedience always leads to His people seeking the face of God which prompts the hand of God to bless His people. The things of God are to be enjoyed, but the presence of God is to be worshipped, and no other.
1 Corinthians 10:14 says it best, “My friends, you must keep away from idols.” Idols form for various reasons, but the truth of God’s Word purifies the heart of God’s people. The ignorance of the Word is the Enemy’s greatest tool of half-truth deception. If the Enemy quoting Scripture to tempt Jesus, He is sure to use half-truths on God’s people as well. Know the Word. Live the Word. Worship the Lord. And idols will flee.
