Idolatry and Materialism Discussion with Leo Sabo and Lauren France
Join us for this week’s zoom meeting discussion about materialism and idolatry with Lauren France.
Notes
Materialism: a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.
Idolatry: extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone.
Who or what we worship - today, we may not bow to wood, stone, or gold images, but there’s still plenty of bowing going on.
Relationships - When we do things for the approval of people, spouse, kids, or peers, we make people into our “god”, because we desire their approval and acceptance above God’s will and acceptance.
Possessions - We make idols out of things that bring us comfort. Things like, entertainment, healthy retirement accounts, creature comforts like food, luxury habits, and forms of escapism like TV, movies, gaming, etc. Idolatry has not ceased, it just took on different forms like:
Credit Cards
Trusting in people (doctors, pastors, bankers, etc.)
False comforters (food, drugs, alcohol, relationships, entertainment, shopping.)
The Dangers of Idolatry and Materialism (1 John 2:15-17)
1 John 2:15-17 “15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
Love for other things crowd out the love for God - A true commitment to God puts us at odds with the world. We cannot serve God wholeheartedly and also love and pursue money or the things that money can buy.
Lust of the Flesh - a craving for self-gratification which always leads to broken relationships.
Lust of the Eyes - greedy longings of the mind, often leading to acts of covetousness.
Pride of Life - assurance of one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things. Being self-sufficient instead of God-reliant.
Supporting Scriptures:
Psalm 135:15-18 “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”
Deuteronomy 6:5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
James 4:2-3 “You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”
Questions to consider
Why is idolatry so harmful?
How does idolatry and materialism affect our intimacy with God?
How do we overcome idolatry and materialism in such a sensual and materialistic world?
