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Idol worship is alive and well

by Mike Vandermause on October 26, 2017

Pastor Troy focused on Exodus 32 during his message on Sunday, October 22. The Israelites quickly forgot about God and began building an altar to worship a golden calf. We fall into the same trap when we put other things in our lives ahead of God. Here are some key points from Troy’s message:

*All of us have an altar on our heart and are worshipping something. We give the majority of our attention to things we are worshipping. The human heart is an idol factory. When we put anything above God in our lives we become idol worshippers.

*Idols can involve good things, such as our marriages or family. We can deify those good things and wind up putting them at the center of our lives and leave God off the throne of our hearts. Idolatry occurs when we seek significance, security, safety and fulfillment from things other than God.

*If God is not the most significant, if He is not most important, if He is not the center of your life,  then something else is and you are worshipping it and it’s idolatry.

*We look to idols for our deep longings. What every human longs for is to be loved and to make an impact. All of us want to have some sort of importance to some people in the world. Idolatry points right back to this longing. We use our time, talent and treasures toward trying to make those things work for us. Idols are when we look to fill that longing. People chase those longings to numb pain, whether it’s loneliness or despair or disappointment or rejection.

*We take time to fashion and shape our idols (Exodus 32: 2-4). Idols don’t just slip up on the altar of our lives. We spend time and money and resources on our idols, which don’t just show up randomly or out of nowhere.

*Our idols bring only superficial happiness (Exodus 32: 15-18). True fulfillment comes from God alone. If everything we do doesn’t run through the filter of loving God first, it’s an idol.

*Our idols are more visible to others around us. Ask someone who knows you and they can help identify idols in your life in places where you might have a blind spot.

*Put God first and other things in your life will become more satisfying. If you want your marriage to be more fulfilling, make God first in your life. If you want friendships to be more fulfilling, make God first. If you want your job to be more fulfilling, make God first. Make God what you worship.

*One practical step in putting God first is to acknowledge your own sin. You need to understand the rebellion of your own heart. Then you can understand the grace of God. When you worship idols, you are essentially saying to Jesus: 'I don’t think what you did on the cross was enough for me.’ We should feel a desperate need for God to save us.

*What is your idol today? Identify what that is, confess it to God and lay it at the cross of Jesus.