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The Danger of Idols: Fear and Love

Discover the dangers of idolatry and how fear and love play a role in our relationship with idols. Explore biblical references and learn how to guard yourself from idols.

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The Danger of Idols: Fear and Love

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  1. 1 John 5:21  Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

  2. Exodus 20:3  "You shall have no other gods before Me.

  3. DANGER “What makes idols so dangerous is that they are nearly always good things.”—J.D. Greear

  4. The idolatry of people Idolatry is “making a good thing an ultimate thing.”

  5. SACRIFICE When something good becomes ultimate it becomes an idol, and idols always demand sacrifice.

  6. Fear and Love We will seek the approval and avoid the disapproval of those we fear and those we love.

  7. “The person(s) to whom we ascribe the most authority — to define who we are, what we’re worth, what we should do, and how we should do it — is the person(s) we fear the most, because it is the person(s) whose approval we want most.” —Jon Bloom

  8. Scripture reveals that we are designed to take our identity, our worth, and our meaning from an external referent. We instinctively seek this referent, because deep down, we know that these things can only be conveyed to us by a Person.

  9. THE UNNAMED REFERENT Exodus 3:14  God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

  10. Aseity (Self-Existence) “There are only three possible explanations for anything that exists now: it is self-created, it is eternal, or it is created by something that is eternal. I gave a presentation at Yale, with faculty philosophers present, where I presented these options; they agreed that it had to be one of these three. Notice that the second two possibilities involve something eternal. If the first possibility can be eliminated, then the thesis that something has always been is proven.” —R.C. Sproul

  11. Fear and Love

  12. Fear Deuteronomy 10:12-13  "Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,  13  and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? Matthew 10:28  "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

  13. FEAR “Fear is a faith-revealer.”

  14. The Fear of Man Proverbs 29:25  The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.

  15. The Fear of Man Proverbs 29:25  The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted. A big part of the effectiveness of a snare was that it was hidden. Proverbs 1:17  Surely, in vain the net is spread In the sight of any bird;

  16. Jeremiah 1:8  "Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you," declares the LORD. Ezekiel 2:6  "And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house.

  17. Hebrews 13:6 (ESV) So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

  18. Love Deuteronomy 6:5  "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Matthew 22:37  And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'

  19. Luke 14:26-27  "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.  27  "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

  20. FAMILY The idol of family says, “If you lose me, life won’t be worth living.”

  21. DISPLACEMENT WHEN GOD IS IN HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE THERE WILL BE NO ROOM FOR IDOLS. Isaiah 26:13  LORD, you are our God. Other masters besides you have ruled over us. But your name is the only one we honor.

  22. Man's nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.... Man's mind, full as it is of pride and boldness, dares to imagine a god according to its own capacity; as it sluggishly plods, indeed is overwhelmed with the crassest ignorance, it conceives an unreality and an empty appearance as God.... To these evils a new wickedness joins itself, that man tries to express in his work the sort of God he has inwardly conceived. Therefore the mind begets an idol; the hand gives it birth.... Daily experience teaches that flesh is always uneasy until it has obtained some figment like itself in which it may fondly find solace as in an image of God. – John Calvin

  23. ARE THEY AN IDOL TO YOU? Am I willing to compromise my beliefs for Them? Will I get angry if I can’t have Them? Do They move me closer to God or farther away?

  24. 1 Corinthians 10:14  Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

  25. Galatians 1:10  For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

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