Lord’s Day, Vol. 3 No. 17
Keep Yourselves from Idols
1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
These were the last words, the final advice, the final warning to the Christians whom the Apostle John addressed as ‘little children’. This term of endearment, these words of care and concern, from a mature Christian who had lived his life and witnessed the success and failure of professing Christians is worthy of our attention. Last words are significant. They are important because they usually carry the most urgent and needful message.
The word “keep” conveys the activity of a watchman who protects, watches over, guards closely, to preserve the relationship we have in Christ as shown in the preceding verse.
1 John 5:20, ‘And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.’
Guard your relationship in Christ. Let Christ be the centre of your devotion. Let Christ be your first love. He is the only true God and we should have none other. We are God’s people, bought with a great price, with the blood of God’s only begotten Son.
Remember the first commandment given to the Hebrews in Mount Sinai amidst thunder and lightning.
Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
The phrase “before me” literally means “before my face”. It specifically refers to God’s omnipresence and omniscience. It reminds us at the very beginning of the commandments that God searches the heart.
If we forget the name of our God, or stretch out our hands to a strange god: shall not God search out? The answer is a resounding yes! He knows the secrets of our hearts (Psalm 44:20,21)!
We cannot flee from His presence. Every sin, therefore, and in particular every sin against the first commandment, is committed in the immediate presence of God.
For there is no ‘creature that is not manifested in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do’ (Hebrews 4:13).
God’s understanding is infinite and concealment from Him is impossible.[1]
An idol is a false god. It is anything that we worship, anything to which we give much of our time and attention, our energy and our resources; anything that holds a controlling position in our lives is an idol.[1] In short, an idol is anything in our lives that occupies the place that should be occupied by God alone.
Who are our idols? It may be a person whom we love dearly: a spouse, a child, an entertainer, a leader, even ourselves! We could also turn our work, studies, our hobbies, into an idol. Today, many spend untold amounts of time on computer games and other vices.2
Many live for their idol and sacrifice for it. God is pushed aside.
The history of Israel conveys clearly the heinous nature of idolatry. We recall how idolatry crept into Israel because King Solomon loved many strange women. (1 Kings 11:1-13 cf. Deut. 17:14-20).
When we depart from God and indulge in idolatry, God’s peace is taken from us.
But when we stay with God, His peace abides with us.
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
May we live our lives in the light of eternity and keep ourselves from idols. The verse closes with the ‘Amen’, a strong affirmation and assent of the truth.
Yours lovingly,
Pr. Lek Aik Wee
1&2 Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Crossway, 2002, 728.