Idolatry is anything instead of God promising to give much
and eventually delivers nothing like material wealth and sexual promiscuity. Life
is truly tough and difficult for everybody. In Adam, all is lost and fallen in
darkness and confusion. Man is desperately in need of restoration and recovery
from the fall. It has already begun since the first Adam’s fall. God has
pronounced the unmovable recovery prescription for all mankind. “To Adam he
said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about
which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,” ‘Cursed is the ground
because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of
your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the
plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you
return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to
dust you will return.’” (Genesis 3:17-19) All human beings shall face and go
through the challenges and troubles in their midst one after another. There is
no difference whether Jews or Gentiles, believers or non-believers, white,
black, or brown, rich or poor, young or old, and noble or ordinary, for God is
just and righteous forever. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is
common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond
what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so
that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) Since life is challenging and
difficult, idolatry is powerfully rampant and widespread in every corner of
human lives. In our days, sexual immorality, drug addictions, and material
prosperity are widely and wildly working among people, even Christians. Paul
says, “Flee from idolatry!” That is a sensible and reasonable choice which came
from God. Flee from idolatry and run to Christ who has been ascended into the
highest heaven and given the highest name above all names in heaven and on
earth and under the earth. He is able to keep us from falling and to present us
before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy (Jude 1:24).
"Therefore,
my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for
yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks
a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a
participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are
many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. Consider the people of
Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean
then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do
not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the
Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table
and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we
stronger than he?" (1 Corinthians 10:14-22)
Idolatry is making alliance with demons and standing against
God. It is not honoring God but self-promoting and self-serving. In fact, food
sacrificed to idol is nothing and idol itself is nothing. What is the matter? Idol
worship is participating with demons, which arouses the Lord’s righteous
jealousy and wrath. Who can stand against God the Almighty? Jesus says, “No one
can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you
will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and
money.” (Matthew 6:24) There is no grey area. One must choose one or the other.
“Fix your eyes on Jesus,” says the Scripture (Hebrews 12:2). It really means to
have one eye of our heart because it is impossible not to be distracted with
having two eyes. We can make allegiance to God, not because we are capable of
doing it but because we have been made holy and blameless through the blood of
Christ. Since we have been redeemed and liberated though Christ’s blood, we are
united with Christ the Son, having received the Promised Holy Spirit sent by
God the Father. In Christ, we no longer live but he lives in us for we have
been crucified with him. We have been adopted as children of God and joined to
the body of Christ. We live in him and he lives in us, so we and Christ are one
in unity. All in Christ shares his life—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22). All believers are
called as friend of God for Christ died when we were still sinners, enemies of
God. That is what we truly are in Christ.
So, we live in complete reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ. We
may and will fail down the road. If we say and admit our sins and failures,
then he will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and ungodliness
for he is just and righteous (1 John 1:9). Jesus says his disciples, “Very
truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real
food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live
because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This
is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but
whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58) What we eat and
drink is what we are. Behind cereal there is mills. Behind mills, there is
fields. Behind fields, there is sunshine and rain. Behind sunshine and rain,
there is hand of God. Jesus Christ is the living bread to fill our lives to the
fullest. We live on him and in him and through him and for him now and
forevermore. Pressures and stresses are burdensome and difficult to handle at
times to all. But we do have Christ Jesus who overcome the world. So, flee from
idolatry and run to Christ who is able to keep us from stumbling.
"'I have the right to do anything,' you say—but not everything is
beneficial. 'I have the right to do anything'—but not everything is
constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. Eat
anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for,
'The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.' If an unbeliever invites you
to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising
questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, 'This has been offered in
sacrifice,' then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and
for the sake of conscience. I am referring to the other person’s conscience,
not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? If I
take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of
something I thank God for? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do
it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews,
Greeks or the church of God—even as I try to please everyone in every way. For
I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be
saved." (1 Corinthians 10:23-33)
In Christ, we have been made
free from the bondage of darkness and confusion and are the children of light
and truth. We know that idol is nothing and food sacrificed to idol is nothing.
“They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.” (Psalm 115:5) So,
we are free to eat food which sacrificed to idols. In fact, most meat on sale in
the marketplace had been sacrificed to idols in the pagan temples. But that’s not
perfect freedom in Christ. Although Jesus was free and sinless and thus had no
reason to die, he bore the sin of the world in our place and died on a cross. It
was possible for Jesus to enter into glory without death as demonstrated in the
mount of transfiguration. He was instantly transfigured to his eternal glory without
any obstacle. “There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the
sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” (Matthew 17:2) He could
remain in glory forever, but rather came down from the mountain and went up the
Calvary and took up the cross of our sins and transgressions. He did not die for
himself but for us, so anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
What our Lord Jesus has
demonstrated on that cross, offering his body as the atoning sacrifice to the
heavenly temple is the exact and narrow path for us to follow forever. Jesus
Christ was equal to God but made himself nothing, laying down all of his rights,
glory and power and honor. “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider
equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made
himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by
becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8) Why did
Jesus die on a cross like a criminal? Because it is the way to the Father and
no other in heavens and on earth. Jesus says his disciples, “Whoever wants to
be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow
me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their
life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) As our Lord Jesus Christ set the
example how to give his life for many, so do we follow him by denying ourselves
and taking up our cross daily. Life is tough and full of trouble, one at a
time. Demands and pressures are enormous and we are easily getting tired and
weary.
However, no man is more
pressured, accused falsely, branded as a law breaker, sentenced to death
without cause than our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet Jesus did not retaliate but entrusted
himself to the Father. “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not
retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself
to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23) Our Lord Jesus suffered much so that
we are set free for his blood defends the believers. In order to deliver us,
God the Father poured out the judgment upon the Son Jesus as Prophet Isaiah
foretold, saying “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for
our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his
wounds we are healed.” (Isiah 53:5) This is how we ought to live in Christ,
giving up our rights for the sake of Christ and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
July
13, 2017
©
2015-2017 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
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