KEEP YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS?

1 JOHN 5:21: “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” NLT

OBSERVATION: I love the book of 1 John! It is filled with so many wonderful truths and exhortations. It was written by the Apostle John as he was exiled to the island of Patmos. He was near the end of his life and wrote as a concerned father to the young believers he had birthed in the Lord in Ephesus. As you finish this warm and wonderful epistle, in many translations, you read this final word of wisdom and warning.

I John 5:21: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” NKJV

Idols were a common place in the early church’s life. Many had come to Christ from paganism and worshipped idols of silver and gold that were fashioned by the hands of men. Yet, today, in our Western culture, this is not something that we can readily identify with. We have visited restaurants where there are different idols that proprietors from other countries have set up. Yet, we did not grow up with idols. How can we contextualize this to our experience?

I love the New Living Translation as it reads – “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” Now, that is something I can understand. That is something I can identify with. An idol is anything that takes God’s place in my heart. It can be as simple as my cell phone to as complicated as my service in my church. Whatever it is, if it takes the front seat of my life, if it keeps me from a life of spiritual growth and devotion with the Lord Jesus Christ…

IT IS AN IDOL!

Rather than rambling on with my thoughts, I want to share John’s writings from his letter. I have pulled several key statements that show how important it is to keep Jesus Christ at the center of our lives. I will keep my comments to an introductory statement and then simply share the verse.

Jesus is the ONLY source of life, eternal life!

1 John 1:1-2: “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.” NLT

Jesus is the ONLY provision for forgiveness from sin!

1 John 2:1-2: “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” NLT

Jesus is the ONLY focus for our love and affection!

1 John 2:15: “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.” NLT

Jesus is our ONLY victory over sin, death, and the devil!

1 John 3:7-8: “Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.” NLT

1 John 5:4-5: “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” NLT

Jesus is the ONLY source of true love and gives us the ability to grow in love!

1 John 4:16-17: “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.” NL

Jesus is the ONLY one who can answer prayer!

1 John 5:13-15: “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” NLT

These observations are by no means exhaustive, but imagine what we have to forfeit if Jesus is not the center of our lives. If we allow anything to take this place in our lives, these things are in jeopardy.

• Eternal life.

• Forgiveness of sin.

• Love and the ability to love.

• Victory over sin, death, and the devil.

• The ability to grow in godly character (love).

• Answered prayer.

So, the Apostle John summarizes his letter to the believers he loved so much.

1 John 5:20-21: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.”NLT

As pastors often say to each other – “NOW THAT WILL PREACH!” Please feel free to do so! 🙂

In Jesus’ Name!