man the title of my sermon this morning is idolatry idolatry I want to focus on
first Peter chapter 1 beginning in verse number 7 there where the Bible reads
that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that
perishes though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ and this is the part I
really want to emphasize in verse 8 whom having not seen seen ye love in whom
though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and
full of glory receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your
souls now this is being written by the apostle Peter who actually had seen
Jesus I mean Peter had walked with Jesus he had actually handled him and spent
time with him eating and drinking drank with him for years but yet he's talking
to believers many decades later that have been evangelized they've heard
about Jesus Christ these are people that are living throughout modern-day
Turkey Asia Minor and he's speaking to them saying you haven't seen Jesus
but you love Jesus now obviously we're in the same boat today in 2020 America
we have never physically laid eyes on Jesus we've never even seen a legitimate
picture or image of Jesus we don't know what Jesus physically looked like
or what he physically looks like now except for what we read in the Bible
which doesn't really give a detailed description along those lines so just
as Peter is saying to them having not seen him you love him that's the
same thing for us now a lot of people are not satisfied with this today and
one of the biggest so-called Christian denominations in the world today is the
East Orthodox Church whether it's you know Russian Orthodox Romanian
Orthodox Greek Orthodox and they're not satisfied with this they're not
satisfied to love someone that they haven't seen so they feel that is
absolutely necessary to have a picture of Jesus so they walk into their
church and this is not optional for them they go into the church one of the
requirements when they walk into their Orthodox churches they have to kiss the
icons and it's not just an icon of Jesus but it's gonna be an icon of
Mary it's gonna be an icon of the Saints and different people and that's
what they do you know I don't know how that's working out for them
during coronavirus you know all putting their mouth on those pictures
but you know they're going in there and kissing these pictures and when
they pray they look at a picture that is supposedly of Jesus and they look at
that picture and they worship Jesus by focusing on that picture looking at that
picture praying in front of that picture and that's gonna help them
somehow love Jesus more folks that's not what the Bible teaches the Bible
teaches that it's quite possible for us to love Jesus without having seen
it we don't need to see Jesus to love Jesus now go back to Deuteronomy
chapter number four Deuteronomy chapter number four the Bible is very clear that we're not to
make an image of God and we don't need an image of Jesus because of the fact that number
one in first Peter the Apostle Peter is saying you haven't seen him yet you love him
so apparently it's not necessary to have a picture and number two no one knows what Jesus looked
like now this picture of Jesus that the Orthodox are using comes from 500 years after the time of
Christ that's their oldest image their oldest icon their oldest two-dimensional picture it's a
very strange looking picture if you look at that 500 AD picture or 600 AD or whenever it's
from exactly I mean that picture is scary looking it's creepy looking it's weird it looks
non-human okay and and they have this picture now think about how ridiculous it is what if we
have a character or historical figure from 500 years ago that we've never seen a picture of and
we're going to produce an image now how accurate you think that's going to be it's ridiculous
even something from a hundred years ago if you didn't see it but imagine what was 500 years
ago 1520 so they go back to the year 1520 so it'd be like if we had no pictures of someone
we had no pictures of someone from 1520 until now and then somebody came out with a picture
would you be like well it's only 500 years later it seems legit no way because if you're 500
years removed you might as well be 5,000 years removed you might as well be 300 years or 800
years removed because it's there's no picture from anywhere near the time of Christ is what
I'm saying folks some guy made up some creepy weird artwork 500 years later that white dude
that random white dude that you're worshiping isn't Jesus and you know the Mormons kind
of have their random white dude the Catholics have their random white dude the Jehovah's
Witnesses have their random white dude and they just have these different pictures of
some guy that is a random person that is not Jesus the chances of Jesus being the
guy in that picture are precisely zero okay because of the fact that people can look
so many different ways how can you even begin to just randomly come out with some
picture and say oh this is Jesus folks I don't need a picture of Jesus I love him
without having seen him okay now look what the Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter
4 verse 9 it says only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently lest thou forget
the things which thine eyes have seen unless they depart from my heart all the days
of thy life but teach them thy sons and thy sons sons specially we would say especially
right specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb now Horeb
is another name for Mount Sinai when the Lord said unto me gather me the people together
and I will make them hear my words that they may learn to fear me all the days that
they shall live upon the earth and that they may teach their children and you came
near and stood under the mountain and the mountain burned with fire under the midst of heaven with
darkness clouds and thick darkness and the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire
and here's a key you heard the voice of the words but saw no similitude only you heard
a voice jump down to verse 15 take ye therefore good heat unto yourselves for you saw no
manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you and Horeb out of the midst
of the fire when things are repeated it's because God is emphasizing them he's saying
look remember don't forget this you did not see an image when you were at Mount Sinai
when you were at Mount Horeb you did not see an image you only heard a voice you
just heard the voice of the words okay he's saying don't forget that that's important
that's key that you saw nothing now here's the thing you know Moses yeah he went up into the
mountain he got to see a little bit more okay he got to see the hinder parts and he came down his
face was shining and everything but remember the entire nation of Israel was actually allowed
to hear if you remember this from the Exodus series they were actually allowed to hear the
voice of God audibly from the entire nation when he gave the Ten Commandments and then
after that they said we don't want to hear it anymore just tell it to Moses we'll get
a secondhand we're gonna die if we have to listen to this anymore okay so they heard the
Ten Commandments audibly the entire nation if you read back in that narrative from Exodus
you know 19 through 21 there where that story takes place and then it switches to just Moses
hearing from God but the point is he's saying look don't forget you heard my word but you
didn't see any image you didn't see any similitude he brings that up twice remember that why do we
need to remember that lest verse 16 you corrupt yourselves he's saying look if you don't remember
this if you don't keep in mind that you only heard the voice of words and did not see
an image did not see a similitude did not see anything that was you know a picture of God
he's saying if you forget that you're gonna corrupt yourselves and what will you do make
you a graven image verse 16 the similitude of any figure the likeness of male or female the
likeness of any beast that is on the earth the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the
air the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground the likeness of any fish that is in
the waters beneath the earth and look God has been represented by all of these things
throughout history there are people today that claim that they're worshiping God and they're
bowing down to an image of a female woman some kind of a female deity go to India you're gonna
see that all over the place others are bowing down to an image of a human man and they're
saying hey this is God and they're bowing down to that image others have images of animals
we think of of course the golden calf and scripture all the other different kind of half
man half beast gods and goddesses that have been worshipped throughout history you know when
the ancient Greeks picture their pagan gods of of Zeus and Apollo of course what are they
they're they basically just look like a human man or a human woman when they're worshiping
these other goddesses and so forth he's saying look don't forget you don't know what I look
like you did not see an image I didn't show you an image now look if it was important for
us to have some kind of an image you know like well how can I pray without having some
kind of a focus or some kind of an image to to kind of fixate on folks if that was important
and God would have given them that at the Mount Sinai wouldn't he he would have said look we're
gonna have a relationship here we're gonna have a covenant here you're gonna be my people
I'm gonna be your God and so here's a logo for you here's an image here's an icon here's
a picture so that you can have something to pray to wrong he said you didn't see anything
and yet I entered into a covenant with you even though you saw nothing Peter reiterates
this in the New Testament saying hey you are born again not from corruptible seed but of
incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever you're born again by the
Word of God you love Jesus Christ but you haven't seen him I saw him but he said you
have not seen Jesus but yet you believe in him you love him you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory he didn't say like ah it's too bad you didn't get to see him you're missing out
you didn't see him and why didn't he bring some kind of a picture why didn't we why didn't
they get some kind of a sketch artist maybe they get like a police sketch artist and the
Peter could have described Jesus and and the sketch artist could have done it folks if they
if that was important there would have been tons of images like that made and Peter would
have carried it around with them Thomas would have taken in on the mission field John and
everybody would have been taking those pictures on the road saying hey we need you to get to know
Jesus here here's what he looks like here's who you're worshiping do we see any indication
of that in Scripture is that how Paul did missions is that how Peter did missions is that
what they talk about in their epistles they never talk about that so why don't we base
what the Bible based what we believe on what the Bible actually says not what it doesn't
say it doesn't talk about an image but you know what it does say you haven't seen
whereas if you'd seen a picture of them you know you'd be at you wouldn't say well having
not seen him you love him I mean that sounds like a blind date not seen him if you showed
somebody a picture you wouldn't call it a blind date would you you'd say like no I know what
I have seen him because I've seen the picture but here's the thing they had they obviously
haven't seen a picture there's no mention of a picture and so whether we're looking at the
Old Testament Mount Sinai or whether we're looking at the New Testament with the Lord
Jesus Christ and the apostles seeing him is not the issue what's the issue hearing
the word because in first Peter one when it says you haven't seen him but you love
him he says you're born again by the word of God and then back in Deuteronomy
chapter four he's saying you saw no similitude but what did you do you heard a voice
you heard the voice of words so how can we love someone that we haven't seen how
can we love Jesus without seeing him it's because of his word the reason we love him
is when we read Matthew we love him we read Mark we love him we read Luke we love him we
read John we love him it would be sort of like back to the dating illustration it'd be
like if someone was texting back and forth with with the blind date you know and they're
just falling in love by text now I don't recommend that okay but but I'm telling you
it's out there isn't it don't you think people could become infatuated or even in love
with someone that they've never even seen a picture of just because they're just going
back and forth on texting or email or whatever and again don't try this at home I'm just
saying that it's possible to love someone that you haven't seen and in our case we
love a God that we haven't seen and we love Jesus Christ that we haven't seen
why because we have his word okay this is what we love right here and it's clear in the
Bible now let's continue there and finish in Deuteronomy four he talks about them not
making the likeness of any male female beasts people and that's what people have done
throughout history to represent God verse 19 and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto
heaven and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars even all the hosts
of heaven shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them which the Lord thy God
hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven now what's the Bible saying here the
Bible is saying if you start to represent God with an image like a beast or a human
or whatever then you're probably going to corrupt yourselves in another way by looking
up to the sky and seeing the sun moon and stars and you're going to start to worship
them and you're going to start and here's the thing has this happened historically
yeah because let's go back to what the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans they
had all their gods and goddesses that looked like humans or looked like animals and what
do they do they look up in the sky they see a bright shining light and they say oh
that's Jupiter oh look at that that's Saturn oh look at that it's Venus what
are those those are the names of their gods and goddesses and they're basically looking
at them up in the sky and saying oh that's that and then basically what are they doing
they're worshipping the sun they're worshipping the moon they're worshipping the planets
because back then the planets were called stars that word comes later in our language
you know back then they called them wandering stars and so you know they're worshipping
the planets they're worshipping the sun they're worshipping the moon why because they're
attributing them to their gods and goddesses they're saying oh that's that's something
we can actually physically look at you notice how man wants to physically look at their
god it's not even enough to draw a picture and say hey see this picture this is Jupiter
they're like no no no that's Jupiter you know they want to be able to really
just look at it and and God's basically saying you're gonna get more and more carnal
with this until you want it to be something that you can physically see but here's the
thing the Bible says that faith is the evidence of things hoped for the sub sorry
faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen right
faith is the evidence of things not seen without faith it is impossible to please him
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him and so if you would flip over to Psalm one oh actually
go to Romans chapter one I'll read for you from Psalms you go to Romans chapter one Psalm
106 verse 19 the Bible reads they made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten
image thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eateth grass they
forgot God their Savior which had done great things in Egypt so the Bible says
that by making a golden calf at Horeb and worshipping that molten image they
actually change their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass
now it's interesting I said they changed their glory because you would
think to yourself well didn't they change God's glory because what is the
Bible say in Romans one it says in verse number 23 they change the glory
of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man
right but in Psalm he said they change their glory into the similitude of an
ox that eateth grass well part of the reason is because God is their glory I
mean the glory of Israel what what what is it that put Israel on the map
you know what is it that made Israel great is the God of Israel okay
that's why I'm not impressed by modern Israel they don't have the God
anymore because if you don't have the son you don't have the father so
what have they got nothing because their glory was God and what happened
when they lost the Ark of the Covenant the glory is departed is what they
said the glory has departed from Israel okay because God is the glory
of Israel so they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that
eats grass without God's glory if we take away his glory you know what
that does that takes away our own glory because any glory that we have
in humans I mean what is it that makes us different what is it that makes us
special it's that we're made in the image of God if you take away the
glory of God you know what you end up doing you end up taking away your
own glory and you know what you end up being now you're a beast now and
isn't that what is taught today in the school system where they
basically teach you are an animal you are a mammal you are a beast so
what they do is first they change the glory of God into an image made
like to corruptible man four-footed beasts creeping things and then that
ends up reducing them themselves to being what to having no glory to just
being dust to just being some animal that just lives and dies and just goes
back to the earth and it's just me you know then all of life just becomes
completely meaningless and void and that's where a lot of people are today
and that's why they live such meaningless lives they have no purpose
because they've been taught you have no glory you are an animal and it's a lie
so the Bible says in Romans 1 chapter chapter 1 verse 21 it says
because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither
were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was
darkened professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed the
glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man to
birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things wherefore God also gave
them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God into a lie
and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed
forever amen flip over if you would to 1st Corinthians chapter number 10 1st
Corinthians chapter number 10 idolatry changes the truth of God into a lie
idolatry is something that corrupts the glory of God how do we experience
God's glory how do we bask in his glory how do we appreciate him to the
fullest and love him with all our heart mind soul and strength the way that we
do that is through the Word of God it's through the voice of the words not
through an image not through a similitude and you know what if you
study the Bible from cover to cover you're gonna find that that is what
is emphasized God's Word not a similitude not an image not an icon
not a picture not a statue those things are totally unnecessary to the
true believer to love God with all his mind heart soul and strength look what
the Bible says and let me say this if they were necessary then basically God's
telling you to do something impossible when he doesn't give you an image at
Horeb right at Horeb he gives you no image he gives you no picture no icon and
yet he says love me with all your heart all your mind all your soul all
your strength I mean what think about it folks in chapters four and five he's
hammering the fact you didn't see an image don't make an idol don't you saw
no you only heard a voice and then what's he do in chapter 6 chapter 6 of
Deuteronomy says love me with all your heart mind soul strength hey how
can you do that it must be possible folks and I submit to you that these
people that are bowing down in front of that picture and kissing that
picture they don't love Jesus at all they love a figment of their imagination
they love something fake because let me say this if they love Jesus Christ
wouldn't they put their faith and trust in his finished work on the cross to
save them instead of putting their faith and trust in a ritual and
putting their faith and trust in their own good works putting their
faith and trust in a man-made religion you know they love you know I don't
doubt that they love the priest I don't doubt that they love the patriarch I
don't doubt that they love the monks out at Mount Athos or wherever hey I
don't doubt that the Orthodox people love their artwork and their
architecture and they love their leaders and their prophets but they
don't love Jesus Christ because if they love Jesus Christ they'd love this
book and they'd realize that salvation is by faith and it's not of works and
you know what the Bible says that when you love God's Word you hate
every false way that's what Psalm 119 teaches if you love God's Word you hate
every false way so if you love God's Word you're not gonna love calling a
man father when Jesus said call no man your father upon this earth you're not
gonna love images and idolatry when the whole Bible is teaching you against
images and idolatry you're not gonna love all of these blasphemous
idolatrous false teachings of the Roman Catholic Church or the East
Orthodox Church if you love God's Word you're just gonna get further and
further away from that junk and you're gonna get to a biblical Christianity
go to 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 14 wherefore my dearly beloved flee
from idolatry look this shows that this is a major sin it's a big deal
because this is the same language used about fornication flee
fornication run away from it run screaming in the other direction well
guess what we're supposed to do the same thing with idolatry and you
know when it talks about sins that will get you kicked out of church
brother Corbin is doing a series and you know you got fornication on the
list we think of that as a big no-no because it is we think of drunkenness
as a big thing that Christians need well you know what what about
idolatry it's on that same list and the Bible says flee idolatry verse
15 I speak as to wise men he's saying look I'm assuming that you're
not an idiot that's my paraphrase version of that verse you know I'm
writing to you assuming that you're not an idiot is how that's the Stephen
Anderson revised version basically when he says I speak as to wise men he's
saying look if you're a total idiot you're not gonna understand what I'm
saying but basically a wise person is gonna understand what I'm saying right
now and what's he gonna say he says I speak as to wise men judge ye what I
say the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ
for we being many are one bread and one body for we're all partakers of
that one bread behold Israel after the flesh are not they which eat of
the sacrifices partakers of the altar what say I then that the idol is
anything or that which is offered and sacrificed idols is anything but I
say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to
devils and not to God and I would not that you should have fellowship with
devils folks idolatry serious because he's saying if you make a
sacrifice to an idol you know you're sacrificing two devils and he's saying
I don't want you to have fellowship with devils you say well what if we
what if we take an idol and we put the Lord's name on it you know what
if we call it Jehovah if we call it God we've called the Lord we'll call
it Jesus well here's the thing about that the golden calf was made in the
name of the Lord because you know what they did right after they made the
golden calf you know what Aaron said all right now we have a feast to the
Lord what about in judges chapters 17 and 18 where we have the story about
the Levite there Micah and we have his house of graven images and what do
they do oh I dedicated this silver unto Jehovah I dedicated it unto the Lord in
order to make a graven image folks people have made graven images in the
name of Lord many times did that prevent it from being an idol did that
prevent it from being an abomination to God he said you didn't see a
similitude don't make a similitude of me isn't that what he's saying he's
not saying hey just don't make just don't make images of somebody else is
that what he said no he's saying look you when you talked to me you did not
see me so don't make an image and he says in verse 21 you cannot drink the
cup of the Lord and the cup of devils you cannot be partakers of the Lord's
table and of the tables of devil devils and then look at this do we
provoke the Lord to jealousy are we stronger than he you know we don't want
to be in a position where we're provoking the Lord and we certainly
don't want to be in a position where we're acting like we're stronger than
he is you know these are things that are insulting to God these are things
that are offensive to God and he's saying look if you're into idolatry
this is the boat that you're in provoking God to jealousy and putting
yourself out there like you're stronger than God folks this is
blasphemy now number one we said this where I have three points I want to
make number one is that we need to flee literal idolatry what do I mean
by literal idolatry I mean an actual image graven image molten image and you
say well what if we just have a two-dimensional picture of Jesus well
here's the thing if you're worshipping before that image folks
that's idolatry okay because of the fact that that image is not Jesus so
you're actually worshipping and falling in love with some random dude
that's idolatry I I mean I can't see how anybody can argue that it's not idolatry
today look what if somebody how about this what if somebody listened to my
preaching right and then but they'd only heard the mp3s and they had no
idea what I looked like and they they listen to my preaching and they
listen to a ton of my preaching right and then what if someday somebody said
hey you want to see a picture of Pastor Anderson like sure yeah it'd be
cool you know I've been listening to him for years and they just show a picture
of Roger Jimenez so here this is Pastor Anderson oh that's not what I
expected you know it looks a little different than I expected there and
this is Pastor Jimenez you know and then they they just basically just
carried that picture around and and said you know this is my devotion to
it's like what in the world that's not me who is that guy right now that
brings me to my second point because people shouldn't be carrying around a
picture of me or Brother Jimenez and point number two is we should not
worship people okay so number one we said don't do literal idolatry but
number two we don't want to do figurative idolatry by worshiping
people and I'm not talking about actually going down and on your knees
and saying we're not worthy or something but I'm talking about
esteeming men more highly than than they ought to be esteemed and and
people can get into like a hero worship and have a form of idolatry not
just a literal idolatry but an idolatry of worshiping pop stars
musicians actors athletes or even preachers you know there are
preachers that get lifted up to the point where it becomes idolatrous go if
you would to Acts chapter 10 Acts chapter number 10 and there are lots of
examples we could point to where men of God in the Bible refused to be
worshipped okay you remember Paul and Barnabas at Lystra you know people
try to worship them and they they tear their clothes and they ran their
garments to stop the people from worshipping them in Revelation John
says in Revelation 19 10 and I fell at his feet to worship him and he said
enemy see thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that
have the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy same thing in Revelation 22 8 and I John saw these
things and heard them and when I had heard and seen I fell down to worship
before the feet of the angel that showed me these things then say at
the enemy see thou do it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy
brethren the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book
worship God look at Acts chapter 10 verse 24 and the morrow after they
entered into Caesarea and Cornelius waited for them and he had called
together his kinsmen and near friends and as Peter was coming in Cornelius
met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him but Peter took him
up saying stand up worship this picture instead is that what it says no
he said stand up I myself also am a man and then what does he do begins to
preach the word of God he begins to tell him about Jesus he doesn't say no
no here's a picture of Jesus here were you want to worship something you
want to bow down let's all bow down to this picture maybe we can light a
few candles burn some incense and we can all bow down to this picture
that I drew of Jesus is that what there's nothing like that in the
Bible that picture and by the way you say well I think that orthodox
picture is right okay well here have you noticed how all these religions have
a different picture the Catholic picture is different the Mormon picture
is different you know you could go to a black church and find a black Jesus
you can find a Chinese Jesus in the Chinese Church I've seen these images
folks the Asian Jesus black Jesus all these different pictures that people
come up with and and and to sit there and say well that really is Jesus oh
the one from 500 years later that's ridiculous it's nonsense you're
basically fixating on an image of someone else and God doesn't need you
to see a picture of the Father or of Jesus that's why it's not in scripture
that's why we need to base our beliefs on scripture not on these
bogus traditions go to 1st Corinthians chapter number one so we saw 1st
Corinthians chapter number one so we saw a couple examples of kind of
figurative idolatry of worshiping people but they were actually bowing
down to those people but you know what there's figurative idolatry even when
people aren't on their knees bowing down and we see this with worldly
people where they have their athletes and their stars and and so forth and
you know there's even a show on TV for a while called American Idol why is
it called that what are they talking about and that was a pretty popular
saying when I was a kid people would say oh he's my idol I don't know if
people say that anymore but do you remember that in California with see I
this is what I like about brother Rodriguez because like we're both grew
up in California around the same time so he gets my references you know so we
saw all the same commercials you know we we all ate of that same spiritual
meat at roundtable and drank the spiritual drink and you know we've all
kind of bent we've been through some of the same thing but basically you
remember people said oh man he's my idol she's my idol okay I don't know
who remembers anybody else remember that oh I guess that one was everywhere all
right but I don't think people say it do people say that anymore sometimes
maybe but not as much but folks they're being honest because they in
many cases that is who they're worshiping you know they go to bed at
night and they got the poster on the ceiling up above their bed and they lay
there and dripped off to sleep you know what does the Bible say you know
we're supposed to be worshiping the Lord on our beds we're supposed to be
meditating on him in the night watches and we we need to when we go to
bed at night pray to the Lord meditate on the Lord you know when we
wake up in the morning we're gonna think about him and we're gonna pray
to him and so forth but a lot of people man it's like they go to bed
thinking about that star or hero and they wake up thinking about that star
or hero and it basically they just and think about how they're even called
stars you know and then you have people worshiping false gods in the stars you
know and then you have them worshiping stars and worshiping heroes so we need
to make sure that we don't become idolatrous because literal idolatry
has to do with a molten or graven image but there's figurative idolatry
we're just anything takes the place of God for us anything takes the place
of God so if instead of worshiping God we're worshiping some musician or
actor or athlete that person becomes an idol unto us because they're taking the place of God in our
life God is the one who wants our service and our worship look at chapter 1 verse 11 there
for it had been declared unto me of you my brethren by them which are of the house of
Chloe that there are contentions among you now this I say that every one of you saith I
am of Paul and I have Apollos and I have Cephas and I have Christ is Christ divided
was Paul crucified for you were you baptized in the name of Paul and and people they get
sometimes overboard on even good men of God look there's no question that Paul is a great
man of God Apollos was also a great man of God Cephas which is Peter Peter was a great man
of God okay there's no question about that now of course Jesus Christ is worthy of worship
but when it comes to Paul when it comes to Apollos when it comes to Cephas these are great guys
godly men and it's not their fault that they're being worshiped you can tell Paul's not trying
to be worshiped because what's he doing he's rebuking them for saying I'm of Paul and he's
rebuking them for worshiping him too much to where he even says hey was Paul crucified for
you did I die on the cross for you quit worshiping me don't make an idol out of me
don't be of Paul be of Christ and it causes division when people fixate on a certain teacher
and just say well I'm of him think about this what if what if our friends what if
our friends started polarizing into these different camps of saying like well I'm of
Pastor Anderson or I'm of Pastor Jimenez or I'm of Pastor Patrick Ball I'm a pastor
Grace and Fred's you know well I'm of Pastor Dave Burson you know just go down the list
of all of our friends and he started doing that you know that could start creating
division when people start just obsessing over well I'm of this guy now some people
would say well you know whoever their local pastor is they should be of that guy I don't
even agree with that because I think that we should just be of Christ and that's
why that's why I think it's perfectly fine for my church members to listen to
other preachers and other Bible teachers and I'm not going to get up and say like hey
you need to be of me I'm your pastor you need to get on my you know it's like look
folks obviously our church has a program obviously our church needs to be unified
on some core things and obviously we have a way that we're going to do things and sometimes
other churches do things differently but folks it's okay for you to listen to other preachers
from other churches and it's okay for you to even on a certain subject let's say there's
a gray area let's say there's a controversial subject where I don't see eye to eye with
say you know Pastor Jonathan Shelley it's okay for you to believe his way and and
still come to church here why because we're all following Christ we're not a bunch
of mindless robots this isn't a cult and this isn't a thing of well if you come to
faith war you gotta agree with Pastor Anderson on everything and then when you go to Verity
you have to agree with Pastor Jimenez on everything folks obviously we must have unity
on the essentials like salvation or you know what Bible we're using and and and what
we believe on core doctrines but folks we should not polarize into these different
camps and say like well I'm I line up with this preacher I line up with now it's
okay you know you can have it you might have a favorite preacher that you like to listen
to but don't get too into associated with a certain personality or that's my guy
you know and here's the thing we have other preachers who preach in our ministry
ministry here like for example brother Corbin Russell you know look it's okay for someone
to enjoy brother Corbin Russell's preaching more than they enjoy my preaching there'd be
nothing wrong with that but you know what there would be something wrong with that if
that person kind of went around just kind of well I'm of Corbin you know what I mean
and just like you know I'm of Corbin you know I line up with Corbin you know
well you know I you know all the differences between the two well I'm with Corbin but you
know what it'd be also bad if people went around and said well you know what I love
Pastor Anderson's preaching but nuts to Corbin it's like well wait a minute you know
Corbin and I are teaching the same things you know obviously we're not going to agree
a hundred percent on every little thing but you know what we believe the same stuff
we're in one accord we're working together as a team in this church so it wouldn't
be right for someone to basically try to pit us against one another and say well I'm going
with Pastor Anderson I'm going with Corbin Russell it's okay to in your heart believe
like I like Corbin's preaching better I'm going to listen to more of his sermons
I'm going to attend more of his services there's nothing wrong with that or vice versa
but there is something wrong when you start just latching onto one guy at the expense
of something you know what you ought to be able to love Paul's preaching with and still
listen to Peter too you know what I mean and I think what's going on here is you
got people that are so into Apollos that it's like they don't they don't want to
hear Peter they don't want to hear Paul it's like wait a minute you know God's using
all three of these guys these three guys agree on the essentials even though and
look we know they didn't agree on everything because we have a Bible story where Paul
is rebuking Peter to his face so we know that there are going to be differences but
isn't God teaching us here hey as long as these guys are true men of God you can
listen to both you can listen to all three you can listen to all of them and
I think where you end up splitting up into all these different factions and camps and
getting too divided is when you start making too much of one preacher because if you
lift up one preacher too highly and say like he is right about everything all
the time then you know what that necessarily means other people are
wrong about stuff and they have to get on his program instead of just
realizing hey all the preachers that we like are 99% right on and the one
percent that they're different who cares right you know let every man be
fully persuaded in his own mind so you can see how lifting up one preacher
too highly could actually cause you to end up you know missing out on good
teaching from someone else or or just having this attitude that's negative
toward good men of God like getting negative toward Apollos because you're
into Peter and Paul it's like well no Apollos has something to offer as
well so or I don't want to hang around those Apollos followers those
Apollos guys you know it's like well those are your brothers and
sisters in Christ is no problem now again the spirit of unity could be
taken too far where hey let's unify with the idolaters down at the Roman
Catholic Church let's unify with the idolaters down at the East Orthodox
Church hey let's unify with people that are preaching a damnable heresy of
work salvation wrong okay we want to have unity within our local church
and we want to have unity with like-minded brothers and sisters in
Christ that are at least right on the gospel and that you know they at
least have the same foundation that we have okay and different people are
gonna draw the line in a different place but you know what you get into some
people that want to be ultra separated don't you ultra separated
they're so new I have be that pastor Anderson's not even new I have be
to them okay so so basically you get to the ultra separated and you know
what I here's my opinion people that are ultra separated it's because they
want to lift themselves up because they want you to be of Paul they want
you to be of just Apollos see here's the thing if Apollos would have been
prideful or how about Paul if Paul would have been arrogant and prideful
and wanting to lift himself up you know what he'd say he'd say hey you
know what Peter and Apollos are junk man listen to me okay and he'd be
saying we got separate from the Apollos crowd we got separate from the
Peter crowd because he wants them to say what I'm a Paul so ultra separation
and being proud and arrogant and wanting people to lift you up higher
than you should be lifted up these two things go hand in hand the preacher
that doesn't want to be worshiped or idolized or adored you know what he's
actually gonna do he's gonna say hey there's other great preachers to
listen to and it's okay to enjoy their preaching it's okay to to visit their
churches it's okay to participate in soul winning with them and so forth why
because he's not trying to just have it be all about him it's just about the
work of Christ you know that's why the the person who understands this
teaching in 1st Corinthians 1 who doesn't idolize a certain preacher they
can go on a mission strip and just kind of go to the local IFB Church
and just kind of go there and just enjoy it and even if they're not in
our camp even if they're not in the new IFB even if they're not our buddy
you know you can still show up and visit and enjoy old IFB churches or other
churches of other stripes that are at least right on the essentials because
you're not just like well if it's not Pastor Anderson nuts to it if it
isn't pastor he meant as nuts you know what I'm saying so you can see
how idolizing a preacher what does it do it creates division unnecessary
division not the right kind of division where we're we're dividing from
damnable heresy but unnecessary divisions between good men of God and
brothers and sisters in Christ being unnecessarily divided because what does
it say in verse 11 for it has been declared unto me of you my brother
and by the end which are of the house of Chloe that there are
contentions among you okay and then he says in verse 13 is Christ
divided because he's basically saying you guys have these divisions among you
if you flip over to chapter 3 it makes it clear he says in verse 3 of chapter
3 for a year yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying and strife
and divisions are you not carnal and walk his men so what's the result of
idolizing a preacher too much division is the result the wrong kind
of division division within a church division within just just amongst
groups of brothers and sisters in Christ why because they're saying
basically our guy is is just right all the time and anybody who deviates from
him in the slightest way nuts to him it's gotta be Paul it's gotta be Cephas
hundred you know they wear a pin around hundred percent Cephas hundred
percent of Paulus I agree with him on everything you know I remember when I
was at Howells Anderson one of the Bible teachers got up and said I have
more confidence in dr. Jack scops doubt than I have in my own certainty so if
Jack Scott says well I think this is a certain way he says I have more faith
in that than things that I know I mean he I was there he must have said
it 15 times when I was there I have more confidence in dr. Scott's doubt than
I have in my own certainty if I'm certain of something but pastor Scott's
like I don't think that's true oh it's not true then folks that's over the
line big time big time and then and then you're gonna get to a point where
basically and and I've met a lot of Howells Anderson graduates that are like
this hey if a church is not pastored by Howells Anderson graduate it doesn't
exist in their mind like you ask them what are the churches in a certain
area they will only name the Howells grads like that's what the churches are in
that area there's no other option to them it doesn't exist okay we don't want
to be that way all right we don't want to get too fixated on any one
teacher and it doesn't matter if it's the greatest Bible teacher on the
planet if it's the greatest preacher in the world nobody knows who that is no
one can know who that is only God knows that but even if it were it
still wouldn't be right to idolize that person because you know what John
the Baptist the greatest man that was ever born of a woman but you know what
the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is that what Jesus said
the least in the kid your favorite preacher whoever he is the least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he so don't how can you worship him how
can you idolize him it makes no sense so number one we said flee
literal idolatry the actual pictures and images of God right or and I would
extend that to we don't need a picture of Jesus and first Peter chapter one I
think really explains why we don't need a picture of Jesus because we love
him without seeing him no problem number two we said stay away from the
quote-unquote idolatry of worshiping a man lifting up man more highly than
he ought to be lifted up and the and the true preachers in the Bible
they didn't accept worship they said no Jesus accepted worship because he
God in the flesh but number three we want to abstain from one other thing go
to Luke I'm sorry Colossians go to Colossians chapter three so number one
we're talking about the most literal form of idolatry we need to abstain
from number two we need to abstain from the figurative idolatry of
idolizing man putting people on too much of a pedestal whether that's
athletes stars or even preachers even men of God thirdly we must abstain from the
idolatry of covetousness the idolatry of covetousness now the Bible says in
Colossians 3 verse 5 mortify therefore your members which are upon
the earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection those are some I
mean that's some pretty bad stuff that's some pretty gnarly stuff right
fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and
covetousness and what does he say about covetousness which is idolatry let
that sink in covetousness is idolatry covetousness is idolatry why
is that well you don't have to turn there but Luke 16 13 says no man can
serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or
else he will hold to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God
and mammon you can't serve God and mammon and mammon is basically the
personification of money as a god like if you were worshipping money as a
deity that's what's called mammon so if money is your God then you're
basically worshipping a God called mammon and the Bible says you can't
serve God and mammon have no other gods before me covetousness is idolatry so on
one hand we have the Hindus bowing down and worshipping a statue the
Buddhists burning incense folks one of my favorite restaurants right down
the street from here has a little Buddha by the front door and you know
they put food in front of it and the food gets old and dry and
everything cuz they're feeding a metal object they're serving Buddha okay so
well they don't worship Buddha really didn't explain that well they don't
worship Buddha they just you know oh really then why are they feeding him
2,500 years after he's dead and we're feeding a metal image of him that's
worship okay and then you got the Orthodox kissing and bowing down to a
picture of some random white dude you got the all the different you know
crucifixes of Jesus on the cross and you've got just all the different idols
that people do but then number two you've got the people that are
idolizing people and then number three you've got people who money has
replaced God in their life so a statue can replace God a person can replace
God and money can replace God and let me tell you this is a big one in
America and that's why people talk about serving the almighty dollar almighty
is one of God's names right El Shaddai the almighty God what he's called
throughout Genesis and the book of Job almighty and they say the almighty
dollar because they're saying it's become a god to people you know and I
know that there are people who live for money and when they go to school
it's so they can make more money and when they go to work folks it's all
about making money to them it's not about hey I need to go to work
because God told me six days shalt thou labor and God told me to work by the
sweat of my face and I just want to be feeding my family and just take care
of my children I want to raise a godly family I want to put food on the table
you know I want to be a good Christian man is that why they're that's not why
they're going to work folks many people they're they're motivated to go to
work not because they just want to be a productive member of society and please
God and and and have something for their family they want to become rich
they're not rich now but they they lust after riches they they fantasize
about someday living in a mansion so do I in heaven but they fantasize about
living in a mansion on this earth they fantasize about the sports cars they
and you know what you teenagers okay don't fall into this because you know
it starts when you're a teenager and you just start lusting after and
craving after the sports cars and and the mansions and and just thinking
about how much money you can make and and how you're gonna make you know
just incredible amounts of money and and then you start thinking about I don't
know if I want to have kids because that's expensive and then I'm not gonna
get all the toys you know there's nothing wrong with enjoying cars as a
hobby but you know what if you really just want to enjoy cars as a
hobby or something like that you know you could always just you could
always just rent a vehicle like that every once in a while and go blow off
some steam or something and and drive that vehicle or enjoy that or you
could just go to a car show and just kind of enjoy vehicles but you know what
why do you have to own that why do you have to be wealthy like that
because and you know what if you want if you want kids you know what you
can't own that car someday you know we live in America we live in the land
of opportunity and you know what if that's what you want to dedicate your
life to yeah you could own that but you know what does the Bible say the
Bible says what good is that to the owner thereof except the beholding of
it with your eyes that you know people lay up treasures in the book of
Ecclesiastes and what good are they to the owners thereof save the
beholding of them with their eyes so you know what at the end of the day
it's like you you sacrificed soul winning you sacrifice Church you
sacrifice Bible you sacrifice prayer so that you can achieve this wealth so
that you could buy that $200,000 vehicle or $300,000 vehicle or two
million dollar mansion and then what do you have at the end of it you just
you can look at it you get to look at it but you know I can look at that car
without even buying it am I right I mean is there anything preventing me
from looking at a sports car today if I really wanted to I mean I could
probably get in the car I could drive up to Scottsdale and they have all
kinds of exotic car dealerships up there and I could I could just drive I
could just slowly drive through the parking lot even if it's even if it's
locked down I could probably just cruise through the parking lot and just
look through and just check it out and you know what you know I could
probably go online and pull up some real high-definition pictures and video
and you know if I really and I'm not into cars at all so this illustration
doesn't apply to me I could even go out if it did apply to me I could
even go out and rent one of those cars like an hour or two hours because I
just my kids were just telling me about this a few weeks ago I'd never heard
of it but I guess you can rent these really super exotic super expensive
vehicles and just take them out on the road for a few hours that two-seater
vehicle but you know what folks in real life a two-seater vehicle it's just not
practical when you have 11 kids or you know so the point is that you know
don't let that be your God don't let money don't start getting obsessed
with money where it's all about just what path can I take in life to get
me to being rich you know I one of my favorite passages of Scripture in
Proverbs chapter 30 you know he says give me neither poverty nor riches feed me
with food convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the
Lord or whether I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain
feed me with food convenient for me I'm all for you working hard I'm all
for you building a business I'm all for you going out and and putting in
a hard workday but you know what do it for the right reasons you know do it
because you want to be productive because you want to please God by
working hard and whatever you do do it unto the Lord you know do it with all
your might and so forth and do it because you want to provide for your
family and because you want to be able to serve God but at the end of the
day make sure that you don't sacrifice the thing that you're even really
ultimately working for in life what we're ultimately doing here on this
earth is to serve God it's sort of like you know about a decade ago I got
back into kickboxing and I realized I was I was out of shape from a
cardiovascular perspective I was like man I'm having trouble doing this
kickboxing because I'm getting out of breath too easily I need to start
running so that by running I can have the wind to do the kickboxing you
know what I mean so I have no interest in running I'd always hated running but
I was like I'm gonna go out running so that I can do kickboxing but you know
what happened is I started going out running a lot and I just started
liking running so much that I just quit kickboxing and just got into
running because then nobody's punching you and you know no I'm just kidding
it's just like kickboxing except you don't you know have to get smitten so
so the point is that I lost sight of my original goal didn't I you see
what I'm saying like like what was the point of running in the first place it
was like hey I'm running so that I can do this other thing that I want to do
but then I lost sight of that other thing and just got all into the running
but you know what that's what happens to a lot of people in the
Christian life here we are you know we're saved we love God we want to
serve God we want to serve Christ and then we're like okay but in order
to serve Christ you know there are some other things I need to do on the
side I'm gonna need to have my job and and I'm gonna need to make money so
that I can support my wife and children and then what happens is what
all of a sudden that thing that was part of our life helping us be a better
servant for God that just became our whole life like here I'm gonna start a
business so I can take care of my family and then and then I just get so
into making money in that business now I don't even care about my family
anymore and then pretty soon I you know I'm I'm ditching my family and
just going out and just seeking other things folks do you see how you could
lose sight of what the actual goal is now let's apply that to Christ the goal
is Christ the goal is serving him the goal is loving the Lord do we have
to do other things on the side of course God requires us to work God
requires most of us you know to have a wife and children that's part of
what God wants us to do and tells us to do and commands us to do
obviously there are exceptions that is okay to be single if you're one of those
exceptions and and obviously people are single for various reasons but in
general most people are gonna end up getting married having kids and
they're gonna need to work a secular job and all these things look these
are all great things but we never want any of these things to take the
place of God sort of like my running took the place of kickboxing and that's
what could have you know if kickboxing were God running became an
idol now running would have been great running could have been great and help
me do better at kickboxing am I right I mean was was running slowing me down
on kickboxing or helping me in kickboxing it was helping but it became an
idol where now all of a sudden kickboxing what's that I'm just
obsessed with my idol now you see what I'm saying that's what we don't
good things preachers are good things our job is a good thing making money is
a good thing okay but what about when we forget why we're here on this earth
and all of a sudden that becomes the idol you see just like running was I
think that's a perfect illustration because it's it's something that's
that's even complimentary of that activity but it took away the focus to
the point where that just got forgotten and just left behind in this case it
doesn't matter because life's not about kickboxing or running so it's
meaningless but that's the illustration folks do not let anything
take the place of God in your life let's borrow the word of prayer father we
thank you so much for this teaching in your word Lord thank you so much for
these these chapters that we've looked at and and Lord thank you so much for
giving us your word because it's it's it's more than enough for us to love
you what would these 66 books here we can easily love you with all our heart
we don't need an image Lord I'm not looking for an image thank you so much
Lord for giving us these precious promises for giving us the
incorruptible word here and Lord help us never to get distracted by
other things they become an idol to us in Jesus name we pray men all right
let's go ahead and sing a song before we go anybody ever