1 John 5:21
Little children (believers, dear ones), guard yourselves from idols - [false teachings, moral compromises, and anything that would take God's place in your heart].
*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 1497
Idols: an image for worship, a false god
From the Greek word ' eidólon' (pronounced i'-do-lon).
From the time God set up the law defining Who should be worshiped and who should not, God's people (and many others who do believe) know their ten commandments; somewhat.
Exodus 20:1-6 is very specific about Who gets our worship and why.
1. And God spoke all these words, saying,
2. I am The LORD your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt, which delivered you out of the house of bondage,
3. You shall have no other gods before Me.
4. You shall not make for yourselves any graven images, or any likeness that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them: for I, The LORD, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the third and the fourth generation of them that hate Me;
6. And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.
To break this commandment is to turn our hearts from God. It's to turn our backs on God, to disregard His Word as unimportant in our lives, when, in point of fact, God's Word should be have the highest regard in our hearts and our lives. Our hearts are more than His dwellingplace, His home: our hearts are God's throne room. If The LORD truly reigns in our hearts, then we live to serve Him.
The person who does not live to serve The Almighty God is serving another god and has consigned themselves to His judgment and wrath. But there's hope (v 6). God shows mercy to the people who love Him and diligently keep His commandments, who guard His commandments in their hearts.
It's okay to say, "No" when someone invites you somewhere where the temptation to give in to sin will be hard to overcome. Pressure to disobey God is from the devil; escape from temptation is from God (1 Corinthians 10:13, 14). And we are to flee from idolatry.
It is both difficult at times and obvious at other times who is serving God with a sincere heart and who is not. This is why the believer needs spiritual discernment that only comes with being filled with God's Holy Spirit. He is the voice of caution, that sense of "I'm not sure I trust" feeling when we interact with some people.
In 1 Corinthians 5:11 Paul is writing to the believers, the church, to be careful of those in their congregation who claim to be brothers in Christ but whose actions prove otherwise. And that these are the idolaters that they are to avoid associating with. The same holds true for us today. To you who say we are not to judge one another, the Word says, "For what is it to me to judge those outside? Do you not judge those within? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” 1 Corinthians 5:12, 13.
We must rid our churches of wolves in sheep's clothing: people who pretend to be brothers and sisters in Christ whose only object is to divide the church and overthrow it. But in order to do so effectively, we must fill ourselves with The Word of God and be filled with His Holy Spirit that we may discern the truth and rise up against that which is unholy in our midst.
The wedding garments of the bride of Christ must be unblemished and unstained; she must be pure and holy. Idolatry and idolaters are spots and blemishes on her garments. We must surrender our hearts fully to God and we must do so with loving hearts: hearts that desire to worship and serve God the way He wants to be loved and worshiped.
When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness to worship Satan, He replied with The Word of God, "It is written". The verses of Scripture to which Christ was referring are in Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20. James reminds us here in chapter 4 verse 7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
We who desire to serve God faithfully, who love Him with all of our hearts, and our minds, and our souls have turned from idol worship to God worship. We have repented of the wickedness of our hearts in serving other gods and surrendered our hearts to God: we want Him to rule over us.
You think you haven't been serving other gods? When you could take time out of your busy day to read and pray over God's Word but don't, what are you doing instead? When you could go to a church that preaches the full gospel of God's Word and not some sprinkled down, nit-picking preaching, where are you? When you could be spending time in your prayer closet, your war room, so to speak, but you aren't, to whom are you voicing your complaints, your desires, your drama?
Idols are everywhere. Saints cannot answer prayer. Statues cannot answer prayer. Social media cannot give you wise answers in response to your seekings. Church, we need to come to God and come quickly, to rid ourselves of the idols we have set up. We need to tear them down and burn them to ashes. As they who obeyed God in the Old Testament did. It is time to fall down before God with humble hearts and rise up against wickedness in high places in the church.
Many churches are splitting from their global parent because they are choosing to follow God's Word faithfully. And are being come against for their conservative stance in this unhealthy, sinful world. They are removing the blemishes and stains from their garments, their congregations. I would hope they/we are doing so with love and mercy, as well as integrity and faithfulness to the Word of God.
Psalm 86:9-11
9. All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.
10. For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God.
11. each me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.
John 3:16, 17, 19