AP
Reformed Thought for Christian Living
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.On account of these […]
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them (Colossians 3:4-7).
Why does the apostle Paul declare coveting an act of idolatry? It is an extraordinary statement, especially when you consider that Idolatry was the reason Israel suffered the horrors of the exile! Is it possible for our desires, whether evil or good, to become our ‘god’ and lead to God’s judgement? It is not only possible, it is happening within the church right now. We are slowly welcoming the idols of our world, and the evil that lies behind them, into our churches. May we hear the Word of the Lord, and through Christ, put to death all that belongs to our earthy nature.
What is idolatry? Making something ‘god’ other than the Lord. A question that is rarely asked is what lies behind that ‘something’? According to the scriptures standing behind the ‘gods’ of the nations were fallen evil beings, the spiritual offspring of the evil one (Gen. 3:15; Deut. 32:16-17, Psalm 82). For example, Moses’s conflict with Pharoah was, on the surface, a lop-sided battle between two nations, Egypt and Israel, with Egypt seemingly in the dominant position. But standing behind the terrestrial conflict was a fierce spiritual conflict. The Egyptian ‘gods’ were not figments of the Egyptian’s imagination but evil spiritual forces who oppose the Lord and his treasured possession, Israel (Exodus 12:12,15:11; Eph. 6:12).
This ‘hidden’ spiritual reality is momentarily exposed in the battle of the staffs (Exodus 7). The power to turn staffs into snakes is clearly spiritual (other worldly) and in this instance when Aaron’s staff / snake swallows up the Egyptian staffs / snakes the Lord declares that He is the God of all ‘gods’ who swallows up His enemies. That Aaron’s staff will be placed in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies is telling for at the heart of Israel’s worship is the one who overcomes evil. Which means that when Toby the Israelite is loyal to the Lord inviting Him into his home, he invites the Holy and eternal God who reigns supreme over the heavens and the earth. He and his family experience God’s gracious and almighty redemption. But when the Egyptians welcomed their ‘gods’ into their homes they welcomed the unseen evil spiritual powers that hid behind them. To embrace evil is to embrace judgment, as is demonstrated by the final plague.
This is the apostle Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 10 where he calls the church at Corinth to flee from idolatry. He informs the Corinthians that when Israel, who had been redeemed from Egypt, set their hearts on the evil of idolatry, and the sexual immorality that so often follows, their bodies were scattered over the desert (1 Cor. 10:1-13). The apostle then reminds his readers that idolatry is not only the rejection of the one true God but also the welcoming of the demons that stand behind the idols. In chapter 8:4-6 Paul declares that while an idol has no real existence the ‘gods’ and ‘lords’ of the heavens and the earth (v5) that stand behind them are real. Who are these heavenly and earthly ‘gods’ and ‘lords’? The fallen evil beings who tempt and incite all who follow them into all manner of evil. This is why the apostle writes:
No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons (10:20-22).
The relationship between idolatry and the unseen spiritual realm is brought into focus when the biblical writers associate idolatry with divination, sorcery and all manner of evil spiritual activity. For example, in Deuteronomy 18:9-13 Moses forbids the Israelites from imitating the detestable practices of the nations. Topping the list of detestable practices is child sacrifice, which was associated with Molech a Canaanite god (Levit. 20:1-2). Moses goes on to list divination, sorcery, interpreting omens, witchcraft, casting spells, and consulting the dead. When the Canaanites worshiped Molech they not only bowed down to their idol, they indulged in the dark arts that are associated with the demons or ‘gods’ that stood behind Molech (see also 2 Chronicle 33:1-6, 2 Kings 17:16-18, 23:24, Isaiah 19:1-4, Revelation 9:20-21).
It is not for nothing that the first commandment states, ‘You shall have no other gods before (or besides) me (Exodus 20:3).’ Unfortunately, the modern-day reader can tend to think of those ‘gods’ as little statues made of stone and wood and nothing more. This is not how the writers of the Bible thought of idolatry. In Deuteronomy 32:17 Moses foretells the time when Israel will make the Lord jealous with their foreign ‘gods’ sacrificing to ‘demons’ which are not God, ‘gods’ they had not known. These ‘gods’ or created heavenly beings are spoken of in Psalm 82 where, on account of their falling away, the Lord condemns them to die like mere men. The other ‘gods’ in the first commandment are not simply the idols of the other nations but the evil beings (fallen heavenly host or ‘gods’) that stand behind their idols (see also Psalm 106:34-39, Exodus 12:12; Deut.; 17:2-5 [ESV] Isaiah 24:21).
Idolatry is a big deal. So much so that Israel did not suffer the horrors of the exile because of personal failures so much as idolatry. They gave their loyalty, not to the living Lord, but to the idols of the nations around them and the ‘gods’ or fallen evil beings that stood behind them. Because of our modern-day rationalism we tend to err on the side of scepticism when it comes to the rulers, the authorities and the cosmic powers over this present darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). Our modern western rationalism can colour how we read the scriptures so that we ‘pass over’ the supernatural world view of the biblical writers and replace it with our rationalistic world view. This is the reason why many give little or no thought to the unseen spiritual powers that lie behind today’s ‘gods,’ The apostle Paul makes clear in Ephesians 2:1-3 that standing behind sin and its evil fruit is the ‘prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience’ (see also 1 John 3:8-10, 5:18-21).
This is why, in Colossians 3, the apostle Paul calls us to put to death, among other things, evil desires and covetousness, which he describes as idolatry. Why equate covetousness with the evil of idolatry? Because our desires, whether good or evil, can so easily become our ‘gods.’ When we fail to put sinful desires to death, we are putting the idols of the nations before the true and living God and welcoming the evil that stands behind them. In the words of the apostle Paul, we are participating in the table of demons and in the words of Moses we are angering the Lord with our detestable idols.
This, I fear, is what the church is presently doing. How so? We are failing to shepherd God’s precious flock to put sinful desires to death through the power of Christ. In other words, we are allowing our people commit idolatry and suffer the evil that stands behind it without them even knowing it. For example, we are not teaching our sisters and brothers that sinful desires are waging war against our souls, are defiling us, and need to be put to death in the power of Christ. A case in point is the sinful desire for ‘more’ (greed). More money, food, material possessions, power, control, etc. Our greed is one of the reasons why there is so much inequity between the churches of the Global North and the Global South, divisions in our churches and denominations, and between Christian men and women (coveting power and control knows no gender boundaries. Both men and women suffer this sin and need to repent).
We are also failing to come alongside our sisters and brothers who struggle with same sex sexual desires, counselling them to come to Christ and put such desires to death. In fact, we seem to go out of our way to make our brothers and sisters feel comfortable in their sin. The same is true for those who covet becoming a different gender (keeping in mind that coveting is desiring something that does not belong to you). Do we come alongside our struggling sisters and brothers and counsel them to come to Christ, to put to death their evil desire? Or do we make sure they feel ‘safe’ in their sin?
It is even being argued that same sex sexual desire and the desire to reject the gender God has given is not sinful. On what basis? On the basis that it is an unwanted desire or a propensity to sin? What about our unwanted racist desires or propensity, our unwanted adulterous desires or propensity, our unwanted desire or propensity to love power, money, pleasure, or material gain? Our fractured sinful condition produces many unwanted sinful desires or sinful propensities, but this does not abrogate us from calling out to Christ to enable us to put to death that which belongs to our earthly nature. When the apostle Peter wrote, ‘Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul…’ (1 Peter 2:11)was he excluding same sex sexual desire or coveting a different gender? Or when the Lord Jesus declares that evil thoughts defile a person, that is render them unholy or unclean before the Holy Lord, was he excluding disordered sexual desires?
To be sure, the risen Lord Jesus Christ has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son He loves (Col.1:13). He has triumphed over every evil spiritual power and authority and even death itself (Col. 3:15; 1 Peter 3:21-22; Heb. 2:14-18). In Christ we have a glorious redemption whereby He has freed us from the power and penalty of sin. Our sins are forgiven, our shame is covered, and our guilt has been taken away (Col. 1:13-14). God the Father, through Christ, and in the power of the Sprit has provided us with everything we need to put to death every evil and covetous desire. Furthermore, Christ’s blood speaks for God, to God, and in us so much so that no one can make an accusation against us (Romans 8:33-34).
Christ’s forgiveness is effective for every sinful desire, every thought and every propensity to sin. All praise to our merciful and gracious Lord! Yet this does not mean we are immune from fine sounding arguments, or hollow and deceptive philosophies that depend upon the basic principles of this world (Col. 2:4-8). This was true for the Colossians, and it is true for us. There is the belief in the church that same-sex desires do not need to be put to death and that gender dysphoria is a condition rather than a sinful desire. This is a deceptive philosophy that is leading Christ’s church, His very own people, His eternal inheritance, to be a people who tolerate idolatry.
Our Lord is holy and righteous. He is a jealous God, who according to the apostle, will pour out on idolators His coming wrath. Our idols are never neutral, standing behind them is evil and to embrace evil is to embrace judgment. A challenge the church currently faces is we have a choice to make: will we face the wrath of God or the wrath of man? The NSW and Victorian governments have legislated for the inclusion of idolatry within the church. It is a criminal offense to pray with a sister or brother who is seeking help in putting to death their disordered sexual desires. Our governments are demanding we allow the idols of our world (and the evil that lies behind them) a place in our sacred gatherings. Not only this but our world views homosexuality and gender fluidity as a ‘god’ that must be worshiped and all who refuse to bow down, to validate this ‘god,’ are condemned. Anyone who calls this ‘god’ evil is exiled socially and deemed an intolerant bigot (tolerance of evil being our world’s greatest virtue and intolerance of evil our world’s greatest vice).
Where does this leave us today? I urge you to join with me in fasting and praying that the Lord will give to us the courage, faith, and perseverance we need to repent from our toleration of evil and error within the church. That every Christian will hear the word of the Lord and, through Christ, put to death our evil desires and coveting (whatever form they take). We need to pray for our Christian leaders that they will fear God and not man knowing that their character, body, and soul is safe in His providential care. Pray that the Lord will visit us in mercy and not in judgement, giving us a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we will deepen in our love for the Lord and each another. A love that leads us to support our sisters and brothers who are struggling with distorted desires (no matter what shape they take) through godly counsel that leads them to Christ. For in Christ is both forgiveness for all our sinful desires and the power to overcome them.
– Jason Summers
