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1 John 5:21
“Keep Yourself From Idols”
In the first century AD, when people wrote letters, there was a pretty standard approach in the way the letters were structured – including the structure you used to finish your letter. A letter, written in 150AD by Apion, is a great example of the standard way to finish a letter.
Give Capito my heartiest greetings, and my brothers and Serenilla and my friends. I sent you a little picture of myself painted by Euctemon. My military name is Antonius Maximus. I pray for your good health. Serenus sends good wishes to Agathos Daimon’s boy, and Burbo, Gallonius’ son.
(sourced G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri, 36.)
Now let’s read the end of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
21 Greet all God’s people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who are with me send greetings. 22 All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Philippians 4:21-23
You can see the similar structure. Greeting people. Sending them a blessing. The New Testament writers didn’t invent a new way of writing – they used familiar structures which connected with the literary experiences of the audience.
Later today you may want to go and read all the endings of all the New Testament letters and you will see it for yourself. You won’t find exactly the same structure as there are variations.
Romans 16 is basically a whole chapter of greetings.
A number of letters simply finish with something like “Grace and peace to you all”. Jude and 2 Peter direct their closing words of blessing to Jesus.
There are all sorts of variation, but for most of the 21 letters in the New Testament.
Yes, I know there are 27 books in the New Testament, but not all of them are letters.
4 are Gospels
Acts is a historical record
Revelation is an apocryphal vision.
Which leaves us with 21 letters in the New Testament – also known as epistles.
For most of the 21 letters in the New Testament they will have a greeting, or a prayer of blessing, or both. For most letters, except for 2.
This is how the book of James finishes.
19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
James 5:19-20
It isn’t a standard ending, but it does fit in really well with the overall approach of James and the way James writes.
Now let’s read the closing verses of 1 John 5:13-20
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. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
These closing verses give a summary of the whole flow of the letter of 1 John.
Being born of God, and holding onto Jesus as the true God.
Moving away from sin and not allowing the world to impact us.
Having an understanding of the transforming work of God in our lives and living in obedience to that work.
Knowing that you know you have eternal life.
That’s what 1 John is all about.
And then we get to the very last verse where we are expecting a greeting, or a blessing, or both. Instead we read, Dear children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21).
We saw that James didn’t follow the standard structure, but at least his ending ties in with everything else he says.
But this … keep yourselves from idols.
What a random thing to say as the very last sentence of the letter.
Now maybe the issue here is that John doesn’t know how letters are supposed to finish. Or maybe he has forgotten. Afterall he is in his 90’s.
However, when we look at his two other letters
13 The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.
2 John 13
That is a greeting.
14 Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
3 John 14
That is a blessing and a greeting. John knows how letters are normally structured. Which means that John deliberately chose to finish the letter this way.
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
It is a more important for us to know this, then for the letter to follow the normal how-to-end-a-letter-response. More important than sending a greeting.
More important than a prayer of blessing.
The last words John wants us to have ringing in our ears is
Why?
Being a Christian in the first century meant living in a culture which was saturated with idols.
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, or even in the distant lands of Ethiopia and Spain. It really didn’t matter. When you were in the Romans Empire, you would always encounter idols.
Even for those who lived in Judea, in the land promised to Israel, it would be an issue. King Herod took great pride in building Roman inspired buildings.
Herod built a gymnasium in Jerusalem.
At Caesarea on the coast he built a port.
Near Jericho Herod build a stadium with a 3000 seat theatre.
All of these buildings had idols in them … idols dedicated to all sorts of Roman and Greek gods.
Prior to Herod other Roman governors built whole towns from scratch which were completely Roman in design and function. One Roman town, called Sepphoris, was only 5km from Nazareth – where Jesus grew up.
In the Roman Empire, and the Roman culture, idols were all pervasive. Worshipping idols was normal Roman life.
When you woke 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 its 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 the past 150 years a string of Roman Emperors had called themselves the “son of god” or “a 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.
So when John says, “Dear children, keep yourself against idols.”
That is not a simple command fulfil.
It is not a simple command for the woman who has become a Chirstian, but her husband and family have not. She lives in a house full of idols.
For the Christian family who get invited to their friends for dinner. You walk into the house and immediately you are invited to make a sacrifice to their idol.
You’re a Christian who is part of the metal workers guild – you can’t work as a metal worker unless you are part of a guild. Whenever the guild gathers there is the expectation to worship the guild idol.
In any Roman town in any public building you enter, there are idols.
Idols who were seen to govern all aspects of everyday life.
Keep yourself against idols.
It is no small command. Indeed, standing against idols could have significant social ramifications. We can see this for ourselves by reading Acts 19:24-28 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 worshipped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”
28 When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
This speech by Demetrius caused a massive riot in Ephesus. It is a clear example – you don’t mess with idols and the idolatry system.
When you mess with idols you are messing with the very core of the identity of the culture.
When you mess with idols you are basically saying what culture thinks is important is actually insignificant.
When you mess with idols you are pointing out that that culture is relying on a man-made object for false hope, empty promises and temporary security.
When you mess with the idols you are telling the culture that all that energy, and all that cost, and all that time which they give to the idols – it is of no value what-so-ever.
Idolatry is not simply the action of bowing down in front of an idol, or offering a sacrifice to an idol. In fact, it is possible for kingdom believers to encounter idol worship and not be spiritually tarnished by that encounter. In 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 Paul has a teaching about that very situation.
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: we know that ‘An idol is nothing at all in the world’ and that ‘There is no God but One.’ 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
So – even though the Christians lived in a society saturated with idols.
The work of God makes it possible for the Christian wife to live in the home with the idols of the unbelieving husband. And Christian families could go to dinner in the house of non-believers. And you could be in the metal workers guild, and you could go into all the public buildings.
Being in the presence of an idol, or idol related endeavours, did not automatically mean you were breaking the command to keep yourself against idols. When John says, “Keep yourself against idols,” John is not thinking that the Christians are literally going to go back to bowing down to the idols and make sacrifices to them. Rather John’s command is to be applied to the all that the idol represents in the culture. And our hope and security in that all-pervasive idolatrous environment is that Jesus, through whom all things come and through whom we live, can bring us to a place of obedience where the idol is nothing.
But, for us to be in a place where idols mean nothing, this command of Scripture needs to be a command which directs our lives.
“Dear children, keep yourself against idols.”
The command John has in mind here is for us to go through each day with a heightened awareness … being actively and constantly on our guard … against the all-pervasive influence of an idolatrous life.
Being on guard to make sure we are not acting in a way that is contrary to our core identity. Dropping our guard by taking on the identity of those who focus on themselves rather than God.
Being on guard to make sure we don’t give huge significance to that which the Scriptures define as insignificant. Guarding against pushing important biblical characteristics to the back of the line.
Being on guard to make sure we are not expending inordinate amounts of energy, and cost, and time into that which is of no real eternal value. Where we end up with so little energy, and time, and put little value on that which is of eternal value.
Being on guard against fixing our eyes on a man-made object which offer nothing but false hope, empty promises and temporary security. Not being on guard because we are not fixing our eyes on Jesus, who is our eternal hope.
Being on guard to make sure do not allow such idols – and the all-pervasive idolatry which the idols represent – to occupy a place in our life that should be occupied by God.
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
Far from being random.
Far from being disconnected to the letter.
Through these few words John encapsulates his whole letter in the form of a very important warning.
The warning is that Christians live in culture where idolatry is all pervasive and, if we are not on our guard, we will find ourselves being drawn into an idolatrous life.
It is a command that the 1st century Christians needed to hear.
It is a command that we today also need to hear.
For, when it comes to this command, the greatest danger we face is that we are not keeping ourselves from idols and we don’t even realise.
The danger is that we hear the warning “Keep yourself from idols” and we think, “I got this covered.” After all 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. Surely, in our enlightened times, 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.
- continue to pretend to be distracted by looking at FB feed
Sorry … what was I saying?
Oh yes … surely we don’t have idols as a prevalent part of our culture.
We don’t give huge significance to that which is insignificant.
We don’t give inordinate amounts of energy, and cost, and time into that which is of no real eternal value.
We don’t fix our eyes on a man-made object which can do nothing but offer false hope, empty promises and temporary security.
Well that is exactly what this world … and the prince of this world … wants us to think.
Remember, it isn’t the actual idol which John is commanding us to guard against.
We are being commanded to guard against the all-pervasive idolatry of our culture.
Those aspects of our life which society says is normal and acceptable.
Those things which can be used to turn our eyes away from Jesus and trust, or obey, or revere or follow “idols” which occupy the place which should be occupied by God.
Keeping on guard against that which has the capacity to take your eyes off the true Creator and become fixated on that which offers 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, or your car.
Your holidays, or your career.
Your health activities, or your book collection.
Your house, or your social media profile.
Your movie obsession, or your personal achievements.
Your … whatever it is for you.
It isn’t that we can’t have these aspects of life. But we need to be on guard that, in these aspects of life, we don’t find false hope and empty security. We don’t give significance to that which is insignificant. We don’t trade of that which is eternal for that which isn’t.
These are some of the idols we need to keep guarding against. There are others. Where we make idols out of things which are inherently “good”.
Are there people in our lives to whom we give more time, more attention, more thought – than we do to God. A man can make an idol of his wife; a wife can make an idol of her husband. Parents can make idols of their child.
Another inherently good idol is the possibility of making an idol out of our religion. Where we worship our religion, rather than worshipping God. We idolise our church. Our community. Our particular point of view. Our theology. Our experiences. Idolising such aspects of life because we have become so fixated on the idea, and not fixated on God.
Finally, there is the supreme idol of self. Putting myself in the place that should be occupied by God. Everything revolving around ME. My interests. My passions. My position. My preferences. My truth. My way. Where the all-pervasive idolatry of the culture has permeated the core of who I am.
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
We live in a culture where idolatry is all-pervasive.
Be on your guard. Because those who know that they have eternal life … they are those who want to ensure that the all-pervasive idols of our culture do not occupy the place which should be occupied by God.
And if we have discovered that we have not kept up our guard against idols we return again to Jesus through whom all things came and through whom we live. Through whom an idol is nothing at all. We run to Jesus secure in the eternal truth that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Not even dropping our guard against idols.
Prayer
