This fall, I spent three incredible weeks in the beautiful country of Italy. While it was a wonderful, adventure-filled vacation with my husband, the Lord blessed me, as a Bible teacher, with remarkable insights into Christianity’s rich history spanning the last 2,000 years.
Whether it was through our private art history tour in Florence, where our deeply knowledgeable tour guide, challenged our thinking on church history, or when we visited unique countryside locations and began to connect dots together. Or, when we walked through ancient basilicas, adorned with awe-inspiring artistry, or exploring towns from the Etruscan period, 5th century BC, which are rich in history and much is still being excavated. And of course, in exploring Rome. There, we learned about the early Christians and Jews living in Rome in the first centuries - where they lived, where they worshipped and for the Christians, their martyrdom. Although that could have been enough for me, we also learned about how relics found their way into churches and how many of those churches are literally built on top of ancient pagan temples using materials from those temples, and how the people in the artwork and sculptures within these churches were modeled after the ancients gods: Apollos (Jesus), Venus (Mary) and Zeus (Moses), for example. Not to mention the many other sites in Rome, a city filled with ruins from a time when paganism and idolatry was the faith of the day.
Three weeks of learning rich truths about my faith, all came to head for me in Rome. When sitting at lunch with Len, after visiting the Vatican, I was filled with emotion and looked at him and said, “I am so grateful for the simplicity that is found in Christ.”
Creating Idols, Even Within the Church
I imagine it must have been challenging for people living under the Greek and Roman empires, for example, to grasp the simplicity of the gospel message. Surrounded by imposing stone temples, elaborate roads, grand houses, sports arenas, and entertainment-filled stadiums, indulgence was everywhere. As our tour guide at the Colosseum put it, “the goal was to keep people fed and entertained,” much like today, keeping people constantly distracted…and turning meaningless experiences and possessions into idols.
I found it interesting that a particular Bible verse kept repeating itself in my spirit during my entire trip, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15 NKJV). We can appreciate and enjoy the things of the world, such as art and history and the like, but we must not let them become a snare towards idolatry in any way. But in thinking about this, we also must not limit idolatry to only two categories:
The spiritual idolatry of loving something like money, or children, or experiences, or even intellect more than God.
The open, gross idolatry of a person who bows down to an image of wood, or metal, or stone, because he knows no better.
Idolatry is a sin that occupies a much wider field than this. It is not merely a thing in pagan lands, nor a thing confined to our hearts. It is a covert pestilence that walks in the church of the Living Christ to a much greater extent than we suppose. It is an evil, like the man of sin, that sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). It creeps in unnoticed and is upon us before we are aware. For example, it presents a low conception of God’s nature and exalts man and his abilities instead, ever so subtly. It brings an earthly and sensual notion of what a church service should be, eager to bring God down to our level, making religion a thing of sense and sight, giving God carnal worship and setting up visible helps and stepping-stones in our approaches to Him. There is a natural proneness and tendency in us all to give God a sensual, carnal worship service, leaving room for gross heresies to take root and grow. A falling away from our first love (Rev. 2) should surprise no one. Put another way, idolatry in the church is a natural, easy walk along the broad path. Whereas true worship of the Spirit is all of grace, albeit, uphill, against the grain - worshipping God in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).
Living a Crucified Life
Always remember the simplicity that is found in Christ alone. That is our mission, to preach Christ crucified. We live crucified to Christ, crucified to the world, and the world crucified to us (Galatians 2:20, 6:14).
In Rome, the Catacombs of Domitilla solidified these thoughts for me. These particular catacombs are human-made subterranean passageways, the largest in Rome, that once held the bodies of thousands of early Christian martyrs. These saints shunned and disdained the material world and false worship. The Roman Empire, a world so prosperous, was dead in their hearts. They were living epistles, read by all men to the point that two Roman soldiers, ordered by the tribunal to carry out brutal acts of torture and execution, experienced an astonishing conversion. Witnessing the simple faith of the Christians unto death, they laid down their arms, abandoned the military and faced their own martyrdom for Christ. Their story and names Nereus and Achilleus, is part of the catacombs, as are many others.
Paul writes …flee from idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14). I believe that today, within the body of Christ, idolatry demands a thorough investigation. Idolatry is near us, about us, and in the midst of us to a fearful extent. It is a plague. In many cases we have lost the simplicity of Christ. One does not have to deny God and Christ in order to be an idolater. Far from it. Professed reverence for the God of the Bible and idolatry have been practicing side by side for ages. The children of Israel never thought of renouncing God when they persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf.
The question for us is, where have “we” built golden calves? What is the golden calf of your faith? Or your church? This week, take inventory where idolatry has crept into your walk with Christ. Where is it walking side by side with you…unnoticed?
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15 NKJV).
God bless you,
Carole
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