Sunday, August 01, 2010
   
Text Size
Login

Idols: Where's Your Heart

Have students voice what they are passionate about, what they spend their time doing and write it on board
(Try to get as many as you can)
Uncover "Idols" on board (this shows that these things have the ability to become idols in our lives)

"You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 20:3
"Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." 1 John 5:21

"An idol is not simply a statue of wood, stone, or metal; it is anything we love and pursue in place of God, and can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ In biblical terms, an idol is something other than God that we set our hearts on ( Luke 12:29;1 Cor. 10:6), that motivates us (1 Cor. 4:5), that masters or rules us (Ps. 119:133), or that we serve (Matt. 6:24)." Ken Sande

 

" An idol is something within creation that is inflated to function as God. All sorts of things are potential idols, depending only on our attitudes and actions toward them...Idolatry may not involve explicit denials of God’s existence or character. It may well come in the form of an over-attachment to something that is, in itself, perfectly good...An idol can be a physical object, a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, a hero - anything that can substitute for God." Richard Keyes

"The evil in our desire typically does not lie in what we want, but that we want it too much." John Calvin

In our hearts we tend to idolize "stuff" – look at items on board representing "stuff" and briefly discuss
We idolize image – show I Am Second video: Ashley and briefly discuss
We idolize relationships – show I Am Second video: Shannon Culpepper and briefly discuss
We idolize ourselves – show I Am Second video: Darrel Waltrip and briefly discuss

It’s not wrong to desire something good, but it is wrong to want it too much.

"But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." James 1:14

God is insulted by idolatry; He is not sympathetic toward it or understanding of it!

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature; sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire and greed, which is idolatry...and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." Colossians 3:5,10

 

Comments

Show/Hide Comment form Please login to post comments or replies.