Idolatry Series

Idolatry

Jeffery Anselmi / General

Tested- Faith in the Struggle / Idolatry; Faithful / Deuteronomy 13:1–13

The nation of Israel is warned that they’ll soon face tests of idolatry and that sometimes these tests will come from the most unexpected places—from within their own circles.

INTRODUCTION

• We will dive into an area of testing that we may be tempted to shake off because we do not feel connected to the subject.

• In our series, we have seen how God tested His people to help them see where they were in the relationship with Him.

• Do you remember a teacher walking into your high school or college classroom and exclaiming, "Take out a sheet of paper. Pop quiz!"?

• These unannounced quizzes are a source of great stress for many students.

• From a teacher's perspective, a pop quiz is a great way to see if the students have been regularly reviewing the course material.

• A quiz grade isn't going to destroy a student's average, but it could be a great wake-up call for a student to get refocused.

• God did this with His people because He knew they would quickly forget Him.

• Today we are going to dive into the temptation of falling into idolatry.

• We may be tempted to tune out a message on idolatry because we may think this subject deals with little gods on a shelf that we bow down before.

• The dictionary defines idolatry as excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, etc.

• What we put ahead of God is our idol, it is not usually a golden calf, but we tend to idolize things like money, power, security, sleep, rest, recreation, pleasure, and so on.

• In Deuteronomy 13 God warns the nation of Israel that He is about to test them on the material he just went over in chapter 12 concerning pagan worship and idolatry.

• God, through Moses, even gives them his objective. In 13:3, Moses says, "For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul."

• This sounds like the Shema prayer that was given in Deuteronomy 6:4–5As well as Jesus's equivalent in the New Testament found in Mark 12:30.

• From the giving of Deuteronomy 6 to the present day, many Jews recite this prayer twice a day.

• But it's one thing to recite it and another thing to live it out.

• Living it out is the hard part for any believer.

• Idolatry is tricky and is always around us.

• Though the object of idolatry changes, the heart of idolatry does not.

• The subject of rejecting idolatry is essential for us to guard against.

• Professor Gregory Beale sums up the danger in the title of one of his books on the subject of idolatry; We Become What We Worship.

• One of the reasons God emphasizes putting Him first is that we are called to be like Him.

• If our worship is directed toward Him and we seek to put Him first, we will become more like Him.

• Another factor is that God deserves our worship because of who He is and what He has done.

• The passage we are looking at is difficult because the penalty for seeking to turn people from God is brutal.

• The brutality Moses gives should show us how serious the issue is and how harmful it will be to others.

› Our big idea this morning is: The nation of Israel is warned that they'll soon face tests of idolatry and that sometimes these tests will come from the most unexpected places—from within their own circles.

• Let's begin with Deuteronomy 13:1-5.

Deuteronomy 13:1–5 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder,

2 and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, “Let us follow other gods”—gods whom you have not previously known—“and let us serve them.”

3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the LORD your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being.

4 You must follow the LORD your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him.

5 As for that prophet or dreamer, he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the LORD your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge evil from among you.