Message
1 John 5:13-21
“Keep Yourself From Idols”
Read 1 John 5:13-21
“Keep yourselves from idols.”
What a random thing to say as the very last sentence of the letter.
Paul never ends his letters that way – he usually says something like “Greet these people in your church … grace and peace”.
Hebrews ends the same way and so does Peter and Jude. Even 2 and 3 John have an ending like that.
When compared with other Scripture letters it feels like John has tacked on a random comment. “Keep yourselves from idols.”
Well … it feels random to us.
But it is not random to the original readers. In fact, this sentence is very important in the teaching of the overall letter.
To see why let’s paint a bit of an historical picture.
You could be living in Rome, or one of the bigger important towns like Corinth, or Thessalonica, or Ephesus. Or you could be living in a provincial town in the area of Bithynia. You could even be in Judea in one of the Roman towns there. The historical picture applies to all of these places as we think about your typical Roman citizen and your typical Roman town in the in the first century in all corners of the Roman Empire..
When you wake up in the morning you would go into the main room of the house and built into that room would be an altar – your home had it’s own place of worship. At this altar you would pray to multiple numbers of “gods” which were represented by carved figurines. If you were rich enough you would have multiple numbers of figurines which would be set in their own special shelf in the wall. Some of these were commissioned from artists who charged a small fortune. When you had visitors over you would invite them to use your alter and they would make sacrifices there, sacrifices of food.
These were the idols in your home.
When you stepped out of your home and went to the town centre … again even in the smallest towns … in the town centre would be another altar with a figurine. This would be a figurine of Caesar … the Emperor. For over a century now a string of Roman Emperors had called themselves the “son of god” or “living deity”. The altar in the centre of town was there so you could worship and give honour to Caesar.
These were the idols in your government structures and city.
When you went to the gymnasium for training and exercise – they had an altar. If you attended a play at the theatre – there was an altar. The people from whom you brought your vegetables and meat – there was an altar. If you were part of a guild … which is kind of like a union … the metal workers guild, the fish-sellers guild, agriculture guild … these guilds were dedicated to different gods and – you guess it – they had their guild altars. All these places had the opportunity for you to offer a sacrifice, or worship and pray, or give a gift to these “god” figurines.
These were the idols of daily life.
What this historical picture shows us is that idols were present in every aspect of life. And it was not a small command to call people to guard against idolatry. Standing against idols had significant social ramifications. We can see this for ourselves by reading Acts19 about a situation that took place in Ephesus.
24 A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. 25 He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 27 There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”
This speech causes a massive riot in Ephesus. What we see is that idols were a key component of life in pagan devotion. You don’t mess with the idol and idolatry system
Now put yourself in the shoes of the Christians of the time. Everywhere you went … pretty well every aspect of life … in one or another you had to deal with an idol. Sometimes Christians were not successful at guarding themselves against idols.
When Paul writes to the Corinthians he says:-
19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.
1 Corinthians 10:19-20
Paul had to instruct the Corinthians specifically on how to keep themselves from idols.
Now reading from Revelation where we see that the church in Pergamum and Thyatira both needed to be warned by John:-
There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:14)
You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. (Revelation 2:20)
These Christians were in a culture where idols were accepted everywhere and everyone had one. Some of those Christians were not guarding or keeping themselves from idols. Idols were so prevalent and such an ordinary part of everyday life that some Christians had stopped seeing how spiritually distracting and spiritually dangerous the idols were.
“Keep yourselves from idols.”
Instead of keeping their focus on Jesus they were taking their eyes off the true Creator and fixing their eyes on a man-made object which could do nothing but offer false hope, empty promises and temporary security.
Maybe your thinking – well that is all very interesting but … really … so what? We don’t have a culture where everyone has their own religious altar in their home, or where we go to the city centre or shops or theatre and there you can find an altar for worship. Idols are just not really a prevalent part of our culture.
(At this point have someone ring my mobile phone)
- pretend to have a short conversation; ignoring congregation.
Sorry … what was I saying?
Oh yes we don’t have idols as a prevalent part of our culture.
We don’t fix our eyes on a man-made object which can do nothing but offer false hope, empty promises and temporary security.
(At this point get a series of FB notifications)
- interact with the notifications
… that’s interesting.
… ooo, that could really change my life.
… I should buy that, I would be so much happier.
We don’t have idols do we …!
That is exactly what this world … and the prince of this world … wants us to think. To have our eyes shut because that which is prevalent, and accepted, and normal … is actually the very distortion, or tool or strategy that is being used to turn our eyes away from Jesus and trust, or obey, or revere or follow those things which have a desolating effect on our Christian walk and our spiritual life.
Keep yourself from idols.
Far from being a random statement this closing sentence is integral to the overall purpose of 1 John … which John outlines in 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
For you to know you have eternal life you need to be willing to keep guarding against the possible intrusion of an idol in your life. Your guarding against that thing, or person, or life-style choice, or habit, or action which is ordinary, prevalent, ubiquitous and doesn’t even look like a spiritual threat.
Keep on guard from that idol.
Keep on guard for that which has the capacity to take your eyes off the true Creator and fix your eyes on a man-made object which could do nothing but offer false hope, empty promises and temporary security.
Maybe it is your phone, and all your phone represents. But it could be so many other things.
Your hobby.
Your car.
Your holidays.
Your career.
Your health activities.
Your book collection.
Your family.
Your house.
Your social media profile.
Your movie obsession.
Your … what could it be?
Keep on guard. So that there will never be a doubt that you believe
… believe above everything else.
… that you believe as the foundation of life in the name of the Son of God.
So there is no doubt … even in this world which is so full of idols … that you have eternal life.
Prayer
