Idolatry: the worship of an idol, false god, or placing anything, such as money, power, relationships, or self, above God. It involves dedicating one’s heart, imagination, and devotion to created things rather than the Creator.

Actual Idols 

Whether it’s a statue of someone representing a non-Christian philosophy, one depicting someone deemed worthy of honor, or one of the biblical characters throughout history, we are not to bow our knee, pray to, or otherwise worship or honor any idol. If the church is directing you to do anything remotely resembling this, you are being encouraged to engage in idolatry. 

False gods

Any religion, world philosophy, or belief system, not properly acknowledging Christ and the sufficiency of the cross as the only means by which a human soul can be saved, is promoting a false god or gods. Some people may even find themselves creating a god of their own making, one that suits their own purposes and lifestyle, rather than worshiping the One True God revealed in the pages of the 66 books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, the God who empowers all authentic Christians with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  

Anyone Or Anything Ahead Of Christ 

When we place a person, material wealth, or worldly pursuits in the place that Christ should have in our hearts, we are practicing idolatry. This is perhaps where many in the western, modern, Christian church may find themselves. Salvation without any need for repentance, spiritual transformation, or lifestyle change, coupled with a failure to reject the world and its ways, are usually good indicators that someone has fallen into idolatry. Often, in these situations, comfort and prosperity have been chosen over the truth of the Gospel. 

Money, Power, And Self 

This is where you will find corruption of the human soul, mind, and heart. Think about what we would consider corruption in politics, business, or any other sector of the world. When we think of corruption, it usually involves money, power, and personal gain. Consider the following definition:

Corruption: the misuse of entrusted power for private gain, spanning petty bribery to large-scale, systemic grand corruption. 

When people fall into corruption, they are generally misusing their power for monetary gain or leverage to gain even more power. It certainly isn’t hyperbolic to recognize that these individuals have been spiritually blinded and are in need of repentance. But go back and look at the definition again…positions of power being used to acquire more wealth for oneself. That’s a perfect picture of corruption…money, power, and the serving of self. And yes, this, too, is idolatry. No Spirit-filled, born again believer in Jesus Christ will continue in this kind of lifestyle. Anyone believing that they can consistently behave this way, without any remorse or repentance, and still think that they are in right relationship with the Lord, is deceiving themselves about their position with God. 

Important Note: It’s easy for us to view others in our world as being corrupt but we need to examine our own lives as well. If money, worldly success, power, and a constant congratulating of ourselves for our own achievements, rooted in serving self rather than serving God, describes our overall lifestyle, we are in desperate need of repentance. 

Sex As Idolatry 

When we find the human soul wrapped up in worldly pursuits, living a lifestyle of self indulgence and depravity, we will often find, accompanying the lust for money, power and self gratification, that of sexual immorality. How many television shows, mini-series, and documentaries have as their subject, money, power, sex, and corruption? Quite a few because we seem, as a culture, to be intrigued with such topics. But although God designed sex to be enjoyed between a man and women for a lifetime, in the bonds of covenant marriage, idolatry promotes everything but this kind of wholesome, godly, and monogamous lifestyle. So sex, when not practiced within marriage, as God has designed it, being clearly outlined in the pages of scripture, is also idolatry.  

A Word About Relationships As Idolatry 

Consider the following words of Jesus:

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

            Matthew 10:37

Certainly, as Christians, we are to love our family members. In fact, even unbelievers have enough sense to know how to take care of their own. But when people, even those closest to us, become more important to us than our relationship and walk with Christ, yes, we are committing idolatry. Jesus tells us that our love for our parents and our children cannot be greater than our love and devotion to Him. Consider this parallel passage in Luke:

“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate (by comparison) his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

        Luke 14:26

Here, we see Jesus telling us that our love for our parents, spouse, children, and siblings cannot exceed our love and devotion for Him. He uses the word “hate” as a means of comparing our love for family to that of our love for Him. He’s not instructing us to hate our family members rather He is challenging us to honestly examine our hearts to see if our love and devotion to Christ is greater than our love for anyone else, including those closest to us. Family is a gift from God, as is everything else in this life, but at no time should these blessings become more important to us than that of our relationship to Jesus Christ, following Him, and living in the power of the Spirit of God. 

And if this is how God feels about putting family members ahead of Him, imagine what He feels about us putting our business, money, pleasure, entertainment, or any other worldly pursuit above Him. Most of us would probably put family ahead of just about anyone or anything else in this world, although there are probably exceptions to that. But most would say family above other things. Yet, Jesus says that not even family can eclipse our devotion to Him. So certainly, nothing else in our lives can take the place of Christ as priority one. 

Consider how Jesus identifies His true family:

While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

        Matthew 12:46-50

We don’t get to choose our earthly family to which we are born. We may be blessed to be in a tremendous family situation or perhaps we have been given the most difficult of circumstances to traverse with family. But even in the best of situations, we all know that navigating the different personalities in a family can, at times, be quite challenging. But for those who belong to Christ, our true family is not the natural family to which we were born. As Christians, our true family are all of those who also belong to Christ. It’s the Spirit of God, residing in the heart of every authentic Christian, that unites us. In fact, when families contain some who are saved and some who are not, there is a spiritual division between them and this division can only be bridged when the unbelieving parties are brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Those who have the Spirit of God and those void of God’s presence can never reconcile spiritually. It is for this reason that Jesus said the following:

Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

    Luke 12:51-53

So what does this have to do with idolatry? When we put the wishes of earthly family members ahead of God’s desire and live in order to please people instead of living for God, we commit idolatry. Of course, we want our parents to be proud of us but, as Christians, we have to do what we have to do. We have to go where He (God) leads, pursue what He says pursue, and keep in step with the Spirit living within us. As authentic Christians, we live for an audience of One. We live to honor God, follow Him, and please Him in all respects. And as Christian parents, we encourage and instruct our children to do the same. We don’t give them worldly advice such as chase after money, pleasure, a comfortable lifestyle, or anything else contrary to scripture. We want our lives to reflect a devotion to Christ above all and certainly want the same for our posterity. This may or may not conform to the wishes of others in the family. But part of placing our devotion to family below that of Christ means that we make decisions that are glorifying to God, not based on pleasing other people, especially those outside of Christ. The Christian life is not theoretical, it’s practical and this is just one example of how day to day living either reflects a complete and total devotion to Christ or a compromised spirit that seeks to please God and others at the same time…an impossibility. 

The First And Greatest Commandment

Finally, the first and greatest commandment given to us is designed to keep us from committing idolatry. Consider the following:

And He (Jesus) said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost (the first and greatest) commandment.”

        Matthew 22:37-38

Loving God with all of our heart means that Christ sits on the throne of our lives. Loving God with all of our soul means that we desire the things of God, righteousness, and eternity more than the things of this fallen world. Loving God with all of our mind means that we train our minds to think the thoughts of God. We do this by spending time in God’s Word, (the Bible), everyday. If we are living in obedience to this first and greatest commandment of God, we will find ourselves less and less likely to fall into idolatry and the trappings of a fallen, sinful, and depraved world. After all, those are the very things from which Jesus has saved us!