IDOLS
Worship what is useless and you will become useless
Jesus said, “That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”
Luke 16:15
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God”
1 Corinthians 3:19a
Men:
I pray this week you saw a multitude of blessings that God has showered upon you….. even taking your next breath is only by the grace of God. And remember Who your true identity is “in” ……..
Sometimes we forget the seriousness of those (2) verses above. Thanks to a brother in Texas, I read again the article below by Walt Henrichsen, “You Reap What You Sow,” where he reemphasized those verses. Have we actually made idols out those people or things that we highly esteem or have become enamored by the wisdom of the world? Have they become idols in our life?
A lot has been stated over the centuries about the worship of idols. Back in Deuteronomy God declares how much He hates various forms of idol worship (See Chapters 17 & 18) and in Chapter 13 He even “demands” idol worshipers be put to death. So are we making too big a deal about this? Not if we take to heart what D.A. Carson explains,
“What you worship you soon resemble; more, you identify with it, defend it, make common cause with it—and if it is an abomination to God, soon you are an abomination to Him.”
What Tim Challies said above was profound: Worship what is useless and you will become useless! In Jeremiah 9:23, the Lord warned us about boasting in our strength, wisdom and our wealth. Other than mentioned, what are those idols we worship today? Let me first include this quote by Tim Keller:
It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. … An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” … [An idol] is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.
It’s funny (or maybe pathetic), I have known people that have lost their 
cell phone and you would think their life mimicked the title of that old 1951 science fiction movie, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” Heaven forbid they might not get their Facebook Fix for a day and go into withdrawal. From time to time I try to engage men at church to talk about things “eternal” (like, Who are you, Why are you here and What are you supposed to do?) but for the most part they just want to discuss work, politics, money, sports, kids, COVID, cars, vaccines, vacations, retirement, and blah, blah, blah. Nothing wrong with all this in sound bites, but what about Jesus? He made it very clear that apart from Him, we can do NOTHING (John 15:5). So why do we spend so much time on NOTHING? Ok, now it’s your turn…… What are your idols? Be honest……..
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And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-26)
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-26)
PALE BLUE DOT UPDATE:
As many of you will remember, my son John gave me a framed photograph of the Pale Blue Dot for Christmas (see: E2Vegas.org/Friday-Mens-Group-1-7-22). I found the perfect to place to hang it, in my basement bathroom where the Friday Men’s Group currently meets. You get the picture …….. standing over the porcelain throne staring at that insignificant fraction of a pixel…. Yikes! My son also shared a short YouTube by Carl Sagan (3 ½ minutes) talking about the Pale Blue Dot. I think you will enjoy it as you ponder what he says about our Pale Blue Dot.
Grateful slave to King Jesus,
Dan
(Galatians 2:20)
“Anytime you look to a source other than God for the meeting of your needs, you are an idolater.” (Day 145 – Red Book)
Men: As we said last week, the more we reject our love of the world (1 John 2:15) the more we will be alone……but not lonely. Purpose in your heart to keep your will in complete surrender to His will……..
Thy Will Be Done and The End Justifies the Means – Red Book Day 34 & 35
The purpose of these devotionals is to help you think Biblically
Solomon said, “As a man thinks, so is he”
¹ Exodus 10:27
The Law of the Harvest
“You Reap What You Sow”
(See Attached PDF)
Jesus said, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven……” (Matt 6:20) What’s going to be in your “Treasure Chest” in Heaven? When He opens it up, will there be regret?
Men: A couple quotes from this thought provoking article. Please find some quiet time to read it…………
- The best security for old age is a properly invested life so that we do not look back with regret….
- The longer one delays submitting to the authority of God, the more difficult submission becomes….
- Two short commands sum up the book of Ecclesiastes: “ fear God” and “ keep His commandments.” They are in the correct order and go together – if you do not fear God you will not keep His commandments, and you will keep His commandments only if you fear Him.
THE BIBLE WARNS AND PROTECTS
By Paul Tripp
“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”
(Hebrews 2:1-3)
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are some very threatening passages in the Bible. Scripture is marked throughout with God’s clear and often stern warnings.
- God warned Adam and Eve about the cost of eating the fruit from the forbidden tree;
- He warned his children about a new set of temptations they would experience as they entered into the Promised Land;
- The theme of the Prophets is warning, whether it’s directed to the idolatry of his people or the injustices of wicked leaders;
- God sends Jonah to preach a message of warning to evil Nineveh;
- Christ sternly warns the self-righteous Pharisees;
- Jesus warns the disciples as he leaves his mission to them.
Some of the strongest, starkest, scariest warnings to believers are found in a stream of passages in Hebrews:
- “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” (3:12)
- “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” (5:11)
- “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” (10:26-27)
- “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.” (12:25-26)
Why are there so many warnings in Scripture? Because God loves us. I love this: a warning isn’t judgment. If all God intended to do was to judge and condemn us, he wouldn’t first warn us; he would only judge and condemn!
One of the ways we experience the loving fatherhood of God is in his unrelenting commitment to warn us of the various dangers of life in this fallen world.
Likewise, God’s boundaries—that is, his laws—are an expression of his love for us. They protect us from danger and draw us toward a deeper dependency and communion with him. In his word, he sets boundaries of protection for us. He does not do that to rob us of our freedom and joy, but so that we would be freed from the bondage and sadness that always result when sinners choose their own way.
Jesus Christ fulfilled the law and bore the penalty for our inability to keep it. Still, he restated and reinstituted the moral law for us because he knew we would need this protection until we are on the other side and free from our sinful susceptibility to go our own way.
In each warning and with each law, we experience the love from our Father in heaven. Each warning exhibits his patience, faithfulness, wisdom, and grace. Each law reminds us of his care. Each warning teaches us that he is ready and willing to forgive and restore again. Each law is a call to trust him and follow him by faith again.
When the Bible threatens, it protects. When the Bible sets boundaries, it protects. Our Father is infinitely wiser than us. He really does know better, and we should listen and obey.
“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
(Hebrews 3:7-11)
