Idolatry and the Fear of the Lord
In this series, I take our law homily from our church gathering each week (The law homily is where we read from the law of God and let His law examine our hearts so that we can be a tender-hearted and repenting people), and I post them here for your edification. Here is this week’s law homily on the prohibition against mental idolatry.
THE CREATOR'S COSMIC COMMAND
"You shall have no other gods before Me." - Exodus 20:3
These solemn words from the mouth of God cut through the chaos of our idolatrous hearts. In a world overflowing with temptations to chase after false saviors, the first commandment calls us back to the fear of the Lord as our fundamental allegiance and devotion.
What is this "fear of the Lord" that the Scripture incessantly commands? It is no antiquated relic but the bedrock reality that shapes and upholds all of life. The fear of the Lord is a posture of awestruck reverence before the supreme majesty, holiness, and glory of our sovereign Creator and Judge.
As the prophet Isaiah thundered, "All the nations are as nothing before Him...To whom then will you liken God?" (Isaiah 40:17-18) The fear of the Lord recognizes our infinite worth-giver and the awesome One before whom we will give an ultimate account (Hebrews 10:31). It is a sacred dread of offending the Lord of matchless beauty and purity before whom the highest heavens are unclean.
When the fear of the Lord lies firm in our hearts, it fortifies us against the ever-encroaching idolatries that war against our souls. We hate evil and sin, which dishonors God's holiness (Proverbs 8:13). Obedience to Him becomes our consummate joy as we live with a dread of grieving His Spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1, Acts 9:31). Our hearts swell with reverence and gladness in God alone as our all-satisfying treasure (Psalm 2:11).
CURBING OUR CHRONIC CRAVINGS
And yet, how easily does this precious fear erode as we casually sideline God's glory? Our sin does not grieve us as it should before the terrifying reality of Christ's judgment seat. We carelessly rationalize evil desires and skirt around His commandments as if He were small and His Word insignificant. A nonchalant familiarity with Infinity creeps in, forgetting the cosmic chasm between the Creator and the created.
Perhaps most perilously, we sacrifice this fear by covertly pursuing idols of the heart—making spouses, careers, comfort, and reputations into functional saviors. Our gaze drifts from beholding the awesome worth-ship of God over all things as we chase after petty and fleeting shadows.
Like the Israelites trembling before mere men at Kadesh Barnea (Numbers 14:9), we offer up our highest reverence to the paltry fears and piddling desires of this fading world. Our mouths stay shamefully silent while our lives proclaim that the things of this earth hold more sway over our allegiance than the Lord Almighty.
CLASHING AGAINST THE CULT OF IDOLS
In these moments of idolatrous unbelief, we shrink back from the greatest reality - the awesome majesty and holiness of God before whom all things pale in utter insignificance. We lose sight of the glorious One who should evoke bowing down in fear and wonderous joy. We are the fools who "despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7), exchanging the glory of knowing God for futile idolatries.
So let the weight of these words crash over our souls, ushering in depths of holy repentance. May we kneel in trembling before the reality of grieving our infinitely holy and glorious Lord through our myriad idolatries. Let us feel the fear of the Lord in full force - the fountainhead of all true wisdom and knowledge from which we have drifted (Proverbs 14:27).
CHRIST'S CROWN AND CONQUEST
And in our brokenness, may we look anew to Christ as our true and better treasure. For in the Incarnate Son, we behold the perfect embodiment of the fear of the Lord. Through the fear of His Father, Christ learned obedience, becoming the source of eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:7-9). While we revere created things, He alone had an immortal, all-satisfying reverence for the Father from whom He derived all life.
In the throes of God's unfathomable wrath, Christ drank the fullest cup of fearing the Lord that we dread and yet need. Through His mediation, the very Spirit who awakens the fear of the Lord is poured out to dwell within us. And in our union with Christ, the eternal Son's reverence for the Father is accounted as ours.
CLEANSING THROUGH THE CROSS OF CHRIST
So rather than seeking to stoke up a fear of the Lord through self-generated efforts, may we abide in Christ as the source and perfection of this fear. Only by resting in the One who revered the Father with awestruck worship from all eternity will our hearts regain a visceral sight of God's awesome worth-ship over all things.
From this rock-solid center, a fresh flood of holy fear will uproot our idolatrous driftings and pour us out in delight-filled devotion to the Lord of all. Our highest passions, ambitions, and allegiances will aim to magnify and enjoy God's infinite beauty forever.
The Blazing Reality of Freedom from Idols This is the blazing reality the first commandment beckons us toward - the utter expulsion of petty, powerless gods and whole-souled treasuring of the Lord as our all-satisfying portion. And through the gift of Christ, as the fear of the Lord personified, we are empowered to join the heavenly chorus, crying, "Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy" (Revelation 15:4).
CASTING OFF YOUR CHAINS FOR CHRIST
In Christ, we are freed from the futility of idols and the paralysis of fearing anything other than the awesome Lord of all. As we abide in Him, the Spirit reorients our worship, treasuring the Uncreated above all created things. We become those who praise God's terrible majesty and beauty above all rivals.
So, take heart in your battle against the idols of this age. Your Savior has fought and won the most terrifying war against idolatrous unbelief through His perfect fearing of the Father unto death. Now, through His Spirit, you too can experience and exult in God as your eternal, all-glorious treasure, undaunted by the trivialities that seek to lure your heart away.
Today, let the fear of the Lord dazzle you afresh. Allow it to uproot every idol. Stand forgiven in Christ and drink deeply of God's maximal worth until your soul overflows in awestruck worship, gladness, and obedience to Him alone.
