You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10)
I was sent the hymn “Hast Thou Heard Him, Seen Him, Known Him” a few months ago by a friend. Listen to it below:
Can Alone From Idols Draw
The entire hymn is good, but see the sixth and seventh verse here:
’Tis that look that melted Peter,
’Tis that face that Stephen saw,
’Tis that heart that wept with Mary,
Can alone from idols draw:Draw and win and fill completely,
Till the cup o’erflow the brim;
What have we to do with idols
Who have companied with Him?
The face of Jesus "can alone from idols draw." Any attempt to turn away from an idol apart from Christ is just a turn to another idol. Even the atheist that says he turns away from God just turns to other gods: the gods of his own mind, autonomy, and pride. To attempt to leave idols for ‘nothing’ is impossible. This is because we are worshiping people. We were created to worship; man is Homo Adorans1. We will give our worship to something. But as a whole, mankind has turned to worship the “creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25) which, as the rest of that chapter in Romans tells us, is the source of all our problems. We must put something on the pedestal. The heart is a hungry altar2.
Idols and The Fight Against Sin
Only Christ’s face can draw our faces away from the idols that have grabbed our attention. King David prayed,
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things! (Psalm 119:37)
This can be applied to our fight against sin. As Paul talks about in Romans 7, anyone who tries to just “stop sinning” has a bad day. The carnal man is a slave to sin; only the Son can set free. Instead of just trying to do better, we have to turn to God. Repentance is about a turn away from something and a turn to Someone.
In a battle with pornography, alcoholism, drug addiction, anger, homosexuality, greed, lying, and "whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine"(1 Timothy 1:10), the greatest weapon is Christ. Repentance cannot just be turning away from sin; it must be a turn to Christ.
An idol takes our attention by becoming an object of worship that we can control and manipulate. It is tempting to the selfish heart of man, because you get the good feelz of religiosity without the pesky responsibility involved. Idols are attention grabbers for that reason. Jezebel made Baal-worship seem like a great idea to King Ahab. But “the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:6), and the love that He displayed in His sinless life and perfect sacrifice, is good enough to turn our head, and keep our gaze forever.
Grace Destroys Idols
It is looking to Christ with a fervent spirit, and putting our faith in him. That is how we began the Christian life, and that is how we have victory in it, and that is how we are to end it. It is not by moralistic do-good-ism. It is not by church attendance. It is not by being a “nice person”. It is by the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again for you.
It is only this gospel that “is the power of God for salvation”(Romans 1:16). Our idols are heavy, made of gold and mounted on stone. A push and a pull will not bring them down. But the “cords of mercy” (Hosea 11:4) are strong enough to bring down the statues of our idols, where they fall with head and hands broken off before the Cross.
Conclusion
We become like what we worship. We will either worship the Living God, and be partakers of His divine nature, or we will worship lifeless idols and become stupid like them.
We will see the glory of God through Christ, and become partakers of that glory on His return, or we will see the way the dew glistens on the forbidden fruit. We will see, with the eyes of faith, our future entrance into the Promised Land, or we will see that all our jewelry is enough to make a golden calf.
Only the face of Christ can call us back to God. That is the face that called Peter back after his denial. The face that comforted the dying thief, soon to behold it again in paradise. The face that looked up at Mary, and thirty years later looked down at her from the cross. The face that pronounced forgiveness. The face that demons fear. The face that was set like a flint, was spit on, slapped, and down which the blood ran from the Crown for our redemption. The face that the Bride longs to see. The face that can draw us away from idols. The face of the Son of God.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:20–21)
https://www.tobyjsumpter.com/man-homo-adorans/
Great lyric from this great song by Sarah Sparks.
Thank you! So true and so important to hear and remember.