Flee Idolatry

In 1 Corinthians 10:14 Paul began his application. Many in the church at Corinth had initially been associated with the temple in the city. They had worshiped the idols and participated in the heathen feasts. Then they were converted to the Lord and they had put their trust in Jesus Christ. But they continued in the temple and they still participated in the ceremonies of the idol temple. Perhaps they continued their association with the temple to reach their lost friends, or because they were carnal, or for economic advantages and business opportunities. As believers, they knew there were no gods behind the idols. So they continued their association with the temple. Paul spoke directly to them when he came to this passage. He appealed to them in verses 14 and 15.

"Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry" (verse 14). Therefore is the Greek word dioper, a strengthened form of dio, which means literally "for which reason." In light of God's judgement upon Israel, flee idolatry. These words are given in the imperative mode, they are a command. The command to flee idolatry can be carried out through the faithfulness of God according to 10:12-13. Paul clearly stated that while God would strengthen them against temptation, they must not ask for trouble by participating in the pagan temple feasts. Through the expression of their Christian liberty the Corinthians were edging dangerously close to idolatry. What is idolatry? The Greek word used here is eidololatreia which means image-worship. These believers weren't worshiping images; they knew better than that. Paul is using a metonymy. A metonymy is a figure of speech in which something named is used to represent another thing which it is part of or associated with. When we say, "I was reading Calvin last night," we mean that we were reading a book written by him. The name of the author is used to represent the work he has written. Idolatry represents all that is associated with the temple and the sacrifices of the temple. Idolatry was at the very heart of the temple, so Paul used the word idolatry to represent it all. They were to have nothing to do with the temple worship. Idolatry includes much more than bowing down or burning incense to a physical image. Idolatry is anything that has one's primary concern and loyalty or that to any degree decreases one's trust in and loyalty to the Lord. An idol can be any false god, any object, idea, philosophy, habit, occupation, or sport. Everyone worships, so the question is what or who do you worship? The first commandment forbids idolatry.

Exodus 20:2-3 (NKJV) "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me."

What do you put before God in your life? That is your idol. It can be anything: your body, your job, or even your children. You may be guilty of idolatry. Paul continues his appeal in 10:15: "I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say". The Corinthians were very proud of their wisdom as Greeks. Paul said, "If you are really wise, you will evaluate the significance of a continued relationship with the temple and the feasts of that temple". Paul was asking them to judge for themselves whether his argument was reasonable: just as partaking of the Lord's Supper involved partaking of the Lord himself; just as partaking in the Jewish sacrifices involved partaking in the altar of God; so partaking of an idol feast involved fellowship with idols.

This command to judge what is said is the responsibility of every Christian. If the apostle Paul urged men to examine his own teachings, how much more are we responsible to carefully examine all teaching in the light of Scripture, praying humbly for the illumination of the Holy Spirit!

What was the significance of the Corinthian believer's involvement in the temple? Many of them did not understand. In 10:16-20 Paul presented the argument that was the basis of his appeal. His argument can be summarized this way: to participate in the temple and its feasts is to have fellowship with all the temple represents and with all the persons that are involved in that temple. To put it simply, to participate is to have fellowship. In presenting his argument, Paul used an analogy in verses 16 & 17. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? (10:16).

The word blessing is the Greek word eulogia from which we get our word "eulogy." It means to speak well of, or give thanks. This corresponds to the "cup of blessing" in the Jewish Passover feast. Jesus instituted the Christian observance of the Lord's Supper while sharing Passover with his disciples (Matt. 26:26-28; Luke 22:14-20). When we celebrate the Lord's Supper we express our gratitude and our thanksgiving to God.

The word translated communion in 10:16 is koinonia which means partnership, participation, or fellowship. When we take the cup we are showing our fellowship, our partnership in regard to our redemption. Likewise, when we take the bread we are showing our fellowship with the very life of Christ.

As Christians share together both in asking God's blessing and in partaking of the bread and the cup, they are sharing spiritually in Christ's body and blood (cf. Eph. 5:30, 32), and in the many spiritual blessings which Christ's death brought. This communion, this fellowship with Christ, includes fellowship with other Christians, with various members of the body of Christ joining to share his blessings. The Corinthian church understood this.

Paul apparently assumed that participating in the Lord's Supper was a regular practice of faithful Christians. Our Lord commanded us to participate in His Supper that we might be reminded of His sacrifice for us and our oneness with Him and with fellow believers. Are you being obedient to Him?

To participate in the Lord's Supper is to express your fellowship with the Lord and with all other believers as 10:17 tells us. For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

Paul merged the image of one loaf of bread with the image of one body. The one loaf broken into many pieces for the participation of all is still one, even though consumed by many. In the same way, the one body, though composed of many members, is still one entity (see 12:12). Paul's design was to show that everyone who comes to the Lord's supper enters into communion with all the other communicants. They form one body in virtue of their joint participation of Christ. As they shared the bread they were declaring their unity with the body of Christ. The Corinthian church understood this principle. Every Sunday when they gathered together and celebrated the Lord's Supper they were recognizing the principle that to participate was to have fellowship with the Lord and believers.

This principle of participation is also illustrated through Israel and the sacrificial system. Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? (10:18).

Paul wrote of "Israel after the flesh" to distinguish physical Israel from spiritual Israel or the true people of God (Rom. 2:29; 4:1; 9:3; Gal. 4:29). Since the Jews' worship of God centered around the altar sacrifices, eating the prescribed portions of the offerings involved a distinct consciousness of their relation to God, and to one another as God's people. Only a part of the sacrifice was consumed on the altar; another part was given to the offerer and still another part to the priest. Whenever an Israelite offered a sacrifice on the altar, his actions expressed his fellowship with the God of that altar, with the priesthood of that altar, and with Israel who was associated with that altar. This principle was obvious to every Israelite. Paul's point was clear: to participate is to have fellowship.

Verses 19 & 20 contain the climax of Paul's argument. He said that to participate in the festivals at the idol temple and to attend that heathen place of worship was also an expression of fellowship with it. In verse 19 he conceded the Corinthians' contention that there was no reality to the gods of Corinth.

What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

Paul began his summation with a question that may have been in his readers' minds: "What am I saying then?" Paul had compared the Christians' and the Jews' worship of God with the heathen worship of idols. He quickly added that the analogy was not complete, since the idols worshiped by the heathen have no real existence in the sense that they imagine. However, Paul introduced a new fact: heathens are in reality sacrificing to demons, since Satan as prince of this world controls and appropriates the acts of worship which are not directed to the true God (Lev. 17:7; Ps. 106:37; Rev. 9:20).

Paul did not say that they were involved in Satan worship. In order to understand this we have to understand Deuteronomy 32:17-21. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you. "And when the LORD saw it, He spurned them, Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. And He said:

'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith. They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation."

Here Moses made clear to the children of Israel that idolatry would be one of the devices used by Satan to lead men away from God. Paul saw Satan and his demons behind the idolatry in the temple at Corinth. Satan had instituted this false religious system in order to lead men away from God into a false, substitute, counterfeit religion.

What are demons? The Bible tells us that they are fallen angels. When Satan fell from heaven he lead a rebellion of the angels and many fell with him. There are two classes of angels, elect and evil.

Revelation 12:4&9 (NKJV) "His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born...." "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

We're familiar with demons in the New Testament from Jesus' exorcisms of demon-possessed individuals. We don't see this today in our country so we tend to write off the influence of demons. But the New Testament teaches us of their influence in the spiritual battle that is going on for the souls of men.

Ephesians 6:10-12 (NKJV) "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

We might not see demons, but they are real and they oppose all that is good. Without the armor of God none of us can stand. Paul's point to the Corinthians is obvious: to participate in the heathen temple, to participate in the idolatrous festival is to have fellowship with all that is associated with that temple. Satan and his demons were behind the idols in Corinth. People participating in the festivals had been deceived by Satan. Believers were identifying themselves in an act of fellowship with them and all that the temple represented when they went to the temple and participated in that feast.

Since that was true, there were only two alternatives for the Corinthians. Paul saw no middle ground between God and Satan or good and evil. Paul gave them the alternatives in 10:21 & 22. The first alternative was separation from the temple and its festivals. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons.

They could not have fellowship both with God and with Satan, so why appear outwardly to do so? The Lord's Supper is a feast on a table, not a sacrifice on an altar. Christ's sacrifice on the cross is the only sacrifice for Christians. A believer could not partake of the Lord's Supper and express his fellowship with Him and his sacrificial death and then go to the temple of Aphrodite and take part of a cup at that feast. Satan was behind Aphrodite in an attempt to lead men away from God. Any believer with a good conscience could not do both. They needed to separate themselves from that Satanic idol worship and have no fellowship with it. Their first alternative was separation. The other alternative was to provoke the Lord to jealousy: "Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?" (10:22). How do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? By outwardly dividing fellowship between him and Satan. Jealousy is the feeling which arises from wounded love; it is the fiercest of all human passions. It is therefore employed as an illustration of the hatred of God towards idolatry. God's jealousy is a sinless, righteous sentiment by which he protects his holiness. When a believer identifies himself with a heathen temple he is provoking God to jealousy because the Lord is not receiving the whole hearted allegence of that believer. To provoke the Lord to jealousy is to bring his displeasure upon us in our lives. It is to come under the chastening hand of the Lord.

Paul asked the Corinthians, "Are we stronger than he?" I believe that this was directed at the strong Christians who were sure they could enjoy their liberty in the pagan temple and not be harmed. Paul was warning those believers, "You may be stronger than your weaker brother, but you are not stronger than God. How could you dare oppose God and provoke him to exert his great power? Are you going to bring upon yourself His judgement?"

The Corinthian believers' alternatives were simple. They could either separate themselves from the temple and its worship or be judged by God. That seems pretty clear, doesn't it? I'm sure the Corinthians got the message. But do we? Do we understand the application of this passage to our lives?

Not many today would be guilty of associating with heathen temples, but I believe that there are many other ways that Christians today are involved in idolatry and thus have fellowship with demons. When we think of Satan we usually think of the occult and witchcraft as his means of worship. Those things are obvious to us. But Satan is not always so blatant in his deception. Let me give you a few of the ways that I believe that Christians have fellowship with demons today. I want to look at them from the more obvious to the most deceptive.

Believe it or not, many Christians are involved in astrology and the use of Ouija boards and satanic games. To be involved in these is to have fellowship with demons. Satan uses these to draw us away from faith in God. Let me share with you an article from the "Daily Oklahoman," Sept. 25, 1986

If Sean Sellers killed his parents, the teenager acted under the influence of Satanism and possibly the control of a satanic high priest, his defense attorney told jurors Wednesday.

Sellers, on trial for first-degree murder, had "almost an obsession with Satanism," assistant public defender Bob Ravitz said in opening remarks. Sellers, 17, is accused of killing a convenience store clerk Sept. 8, 1985, and then his parents March 5 as they slept. The death penalty is being sought. District Attorney Robert Macy told the jury Sellers shot the convenience store worker "just to find out what it felt like to kill a human being." Sellers' parents were "executed" after Sellers complained to a friend that he didn't want them to come back from a vacation, Macy said. The Oklahoma County jury was told it will hear testimony of Sellers' participation in satanic rituals, his search for a coven in Oklahoma City, his phone call to a "witch" and an argument after he brought a "satanic bible" to Putman City North High School. "What you'll see is a state of progression" with Sellers' Satanism belief growing from playing the game "Dungeons and Dragons," the defense attorney told jurors. Documents from the Sellers home show he had a "blood pact" with Satanism, Ravitz said.

It should be obvious to Christians that we should have nothing to do with these things, but sadly, it is not. To participate in satanic games is to have fellowship with demons.

Satan uses other means that are not so obvious, such as the Masonic Lodge. Many Christians are involved in the Masons. Are the Masons harmless? Is it harmless to have fellowship with demons? In The Iowa Quarterly Bulletin of April 1917, a Masonic publication, it says this: "Masonry is a Divinely appointed institution, designed to draw men nearer to God." In the Short Talk Bulletin (Vol. 36, No.8, p.7) it says, "The Chaplin of the Masonic lodge who prays as the voice of the lodge does not pray in the name of the Carpenter of Nazareth or the name of Jehovah or the name of Allah. He prays to the Grand Artificer or the Great Architect of the Universe. Under that title men of all faiths may find each his own deity."

This teaching denies the truth of the Bible, therefore how could Masonry be a divinely appointed instatution? God's Word teaches: Acts 4:12 (NKJV) "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 1 John 2:22-23 (NKJV) "Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also."

I believe that for a Christian to be involved in the Masonic Lodge is to have fellowship with demons and to provoke the Lord to jealousy. It is not a harmless boyscouts for adults. Satan's most usefull tool is a counterfeit religious system designed to promote unbelief and to draw men away from the worship of God. The Bible teaches us about his tactics in:

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NKJV) "But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."

Satan and his demons don't use idol temple worship today in our country, but Satan has a masterful counterfeit religious system in America today: liberalism. Did you know that Satan has his own systematic theology? 1 Timothy 4:1 (NKJV) "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,"

Some liberalism openly denies the truths of God, such as the diety of Jesus Christ, the sufficiency of the sacrificial death of Christ, and the inspiration of Scripture. Some of Satan's doctrines are simply a distortion of the doctrines of the Bible.

Not only does Satan have his own theology but he has his own clergy. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NKJV) "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

Liberal preachers who deny the truth of God are the ministers of Satan. Robert Schuller says, "A person is in hell when he has lost his self-esteem." He also says, "It is destructive to human personality to make people aware of their lost and sinful state." Satan also has men like Rodney R. Romney, the senior pastor of Seattle's First Baptist Church, who writes in his book titled Journey to Inner Space: Finding God-in-Us, "Jesus was not God but simply a man who knew the laws of God." Satan's clergy appear as ministers of God who say nice things and encourage people to be good. But they deny the truth of God's Word.

Satan not only has his own theology and his own clergy, he has his own churches. Revelation 2:9 & 3:9 talk about the synagogue of Satan. It is tempting to think of this as a church of Satan in Los Angelos. But the synagogue of Satan is more likely a liberal church that denies the word of God and preaches a social gospel. Paul said to flee idolatry in 10:14. We could say flee from liberalism. This would be a legitimate application for us today. 2 Corinthians 6 verifies this:

2 Corinthians 6:14-16 (NKJV) "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people."

The unequal yoke here is not marriage, though that is an application from this passage. This passage is talking about an ecclesiastical yoke. We are not to be yoked with an unbeliever, yet we are yoked by attending and participating in a liberal church. Paul says in verse 17 that we are to be separate. We are not to participate (have fellowship with) in a liberal church. This passage is not teaching isolation, but separation. If I could, I would go and preach at a liberal church, but I would not give to it, join it, or support it in any way. A liberal or apostate church is a synagogue of Satan.

Many Christians are involved with liberal and apostate churches. While it is easy to see the temple of Aphrodite as an attack from Satan, every liberal or apostate church is also a means that Satan uses to lead men away from God and to promote their unbelief. Probably the most subtle of way that Satan persuades many Christians to fellowship with demons is covetousness.

Colossians 3:5 (NKJV) "Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

"Covetousness" is the Greek word pleonexia, which means a greedy desire to have more. Covetousness is an attitude of wanting to acquire things, longing for them, setting our thoughts and attention on them, whether we ever possess them or not.

C.H. Spurgeon said "I've been in a lot of testimony meetings, and I've heard a lot of people share how they've sinned, and I've had people come to me and make confession of sin. But in all my life I've never had one person confess the sin of covetousness to me." Few people suspect that covetousness is a sin that they have a problem with. But I suspect that it is something that all of us are affected by in varying degrees.

According to Colossians 3:5, greed and idol worship are both forms of worshiping the creation of God rather than God as the Creator. Material things are not themselves evil, but they are put to evil use when man regards them as objects of worship in place of God (1 Sam. 15:3; Matt. 6:24; Phil. 3:19; 1 John 2:15).

Job 31:24-25 & 28 (NKJV) "If I have made gold my hope, Or said to fine gold, 'You are my confidence'; If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, And because my hand had gained much; This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment, For I would have denied God who is above."

Do we see covetousness as a sin? Do we see covetousness as idolatry? To be covetous is to have fellowship with demons and to provoke God to jealousy. How many believers who sit in Bible teaching churches are involved in idolatry because of covetousness? Yes, they go to church, they may even read their Bibles occasionly but their driving desire is to enlarge their personal kingdom, rather than to know Christ and seek His kingdom. They labor not for Christ but to have more things. Jesus said,

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:24-30).

Luke 12:15 (NKJV) "And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

This is a solemn warning to the Corinthians and to all of us. An idol is anything that you love more than Jesus Christ. Anything that takes our first loyalty and allegiance is an idol. We need to take this warning to heart. We must realize the consequences of fellowshiping with demons. God will judge us. To participate in astrology or demonic games, or a Masonic lodge, or a liberal church, or to be covetous is to provoke the Lord to jealousy. May I say that the Corinthians certainly did not intend to worship evil spirits. Nevertheless they did it. Christians do not intend to serve Satan when they break the laws of God in the pursuit of their desires. Still, in breaking God's laws believers are really obeying the will of the great adversary, and fulfilling his designs. To him all sin is an offering and an homage. We have only two options, we either worship God or Satan.

I would like to close by repeating the words of Paul to you. "As wise men consider what I say." Examine yourself and see if you are living in the faith or having fellowship with demons? Let's not provoke the Lord because He's stronger then us.