LESSONS FROM HISTORY
IDOLATRY AND IMMORALITY
DR. JIM DIXON
APRIL 15, 2012
1 CORINTHIANS 10
George Santayana was a philosopher. He graduated from Harvard University in 1886 and in 1889 became a professor of philosophy at Harvard University. He served in that capacity from 1889 to 1912. In 1912, Santayana moved to Europe, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died in 1952. He wrote many books, gave many lectures, and his philosophy focused on the distinction between essence and existence. His thought was kind of esoteric and difficult for many to understand. But there was one thing he said that everyone understood. There was one statement he made that is oftentimes quoted, and that is the statement: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” That statement has been quoted many times by many people with many variations. It is true that if we don’t learn from history we are doomed to repeat its mistakes.
God wants a people who learn from the past, people who learn from history. God wants you to remember your past and learn from it. God wants His church to learn from church history and to not make the same mistakes. God wants people to learn from world history and not make the same mistakes. So today, we have lessons from history. The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, and he’s warning them not to make the same mistakes that the people of God have made in the past. So he cites the example of the Jews, the people of God, and he reminds the church at Corinth that the Jewish people were blessed supernaturally by God. They were guided through the wilderness by the glory cloud, the very presence of God. They were delivered by the supernatural power of God through the Red Sea, as if upon dry land. They were, in a sense, baptized into the leadership of Moses through the cloud and the sea.
He also reminds them that the Jewish people were provided for by God very supernaturally. They ate supernatural food. Manna fell from heaven that they might eat. They partook in supernatural drink, as from the rock at Meribah. Paul reminds the church at Corinth that, in a sense, the pre-existent, the pre-incarnate Christ was actually with the Jewish people providing for them. Nevertheless, he says they were overthrown in the wilderness and they were disciplined by God because of their sin. So here we are, the church of Jesus Christ, and Paul would remind us that while we’re saved by grace, while we have received Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and our sins are forgiven, as we saw last week our tickets have been ripped up. While that is true and we are recipients of His grace, still, Paul warns us that God disciplines His people and we are not to take sin casually.
So Paul gives three warnings. The first warning concerns idolatry. “We must not become idolaters,” Paul says, “as some of them were. For it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance.’” Now, this is not a condemnation of eating or drinking or dancing. This is a reference back to Exodus chapter 32. In Exodus chapter 32, the Jewish people, while waiting for Moses, who had ascended the mountain and was delayed (it took 40 days and 40 nights), while they were at the bottom of Sinai, they began to lose their focus on the God of Israel. They built a golden calf and began to worship it. Now, this golden calf, the Hebrew word for calf is “egel.” It means “young bull.” And historians know that this young bull was a symbol of Serapis, the Egyptian God, and the cult of the Egyptian religion of Serapis.
That cult was centered at Memphis. This is not Memphis, Tennessee. That’s the cult of Elvis. This is is the cult of Serapis at Memphis on the Nile River south of Heliopolis, near where the pyramids stand at Giza today. So the Jewish people had lived in Egypt. They were familiar with Egyptian religion, that they knew that they were bound to the one true God—to Yahweh, to Elohim. They knew that this was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But they thought, “What’s wrong with adding another God to our worship?” And they loved the worship of Serapis. They knew that the worship of Serapis was surrounded with feasting and with a party. So they made this golden bull at the base of the mountain and began to party and worship Serapis right alongside Yahweh.
So you understand the context. In Exodus 20 to 24, God has given the Decalogue, the 10 Commandments, to Moses and to the people. Now, in Exodus He is also given the law of the covenant to them in those chapters, 20 to 24. Then in chapter 24, God summons Moses up to the mountain where he is to receive the tablets of stone upon which God has inscribed those 10 commandments. And so Moses goes and ascends the mountain with Joshua, two others, and 70 elders. But only Moses goes up into the presence of God. And God delivers to Moses the tablets of stone. He also gives instructions relating to the tabernacle and to the priesthood, so when Moses in chapter 32 of Exodus is coming down the mountain, he’s carrying the tablets of stone.
He comes down the mountain, carrying the 10 Commandments, and at that very moment the Jewish people are violating the first two commandments at the base of the mountain. The first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods besides Me.” And this is monotheism. There is no God but God—Yahweh, Elohim. But it’s also a statement that you are to take you as, “You are to have nothing in your life that is equal to Him.” You are to place nothing alongside of Him. God is to be your worship. You are to find your worth in Him. You are to find your identity in Him. You are to devote yourself with singularity to His service and His purposes. His cause is to be supremely your purpose and your cause. This is worship, and it is the first commandment.
The second commandment is, “Thou shalt not make for thyself any graven images.” And in the ancient world, images and idols were used to induce the favor of the gods. So in the ancient world, they used idols to try to control the blessings of the gods and to bring those blessings into one’s own life. And God is saying, “You can’t do that. I can’t be controlled. I’m sovereign.” You are to make no grave images or idols. So you see the people of Israel violating the commandments of God, even as Moses is coming down from the mountain.
So now Paul warns the church to not become my idolaters. You might be sitting there thinking, well, no problem for me. You might be thinking, I can’t remember the last time I worshiped an idol or an icon or an image. But, remember, idolatry is far more subtle than that. Idolatry has to do with placing anything above God or alongside of God. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter four that the end times will be characterized by idolatry, but it’s in the deeper sense. It says that people will be lovers of self rather than lovers of God, “philautos” rather than “philotheos.” So that’s a form of idolatry, where you literally worship self. It says, “In the last days, people will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, “philedone” instead of “philotheos.” Again, this is another form of idolatry. It says, “In the last days, people will be lovers of money rather than lovers of God—“philarguros” instead of philotheos.
Again, that’s another form of idolatry. And you need to ask yourself, where do you find your worth? Where do you find your value? Do, do you find your worth in money and wealth and in material possessions? Is that where you find your value? Do you pursue supremely money and wealth? Are you supremely pursuing the cause of Christ and the kingdom of heaven? Is idolatry in your life? And Jesus deals with this in the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew chapter five, chapter six, and chapter seven. The middle chapter, chapter six, Jesus focuses almost entirely on money because money is perhaps the greatest idol of our time and was the greatest idol of that time. So Jesus makes this statement in the Sermon on the Mount: no man can serve two masters. He will either love the one and hate the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.
Now, mammon means money or wealth. And Jesus is taking this word mammon and personalizing money as though it were an idol of worship. He’s talking about idolatry. You cannot put money alongside of God. You cannot find your worth there. You cannot find your value there. You can’t find your security there. Your security needs to be in God. I mean, why is it that so many people in hard economic times begin to feel insecure? It’s because money is their idol and they have made of money a god. And of course Jesus in that passage says this in many ways. He says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth consume and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither rust nor moth consumes, and where no thief breaks in and steals. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
It’s about worship. Where’s your heart? Where is your treasure? And there’s this warning about idolatry with regard to mammon. Then in the next few verses in Matthew chapter six, in the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is ‘haplos,’ your whole body will be filled with light. If your eye is ‘poneros,’ your whole body will be filled with darkness. And how great is the darkness.” And that’s a difficult statement. And some people take the Greek word haplos, to mean ‘generous’ and the word poneros to mean ‘stingy.’ And these words can mean that. We know that Jesus is talking about mammon. We know contextually He’s talking about money, but the primary meaning of haplos is “single,” and the word poneros can mean “multiple,” or “diverse.” And so the belief is that what Jesus is really saying, if your eye is single, if you have put nothing alongside of God, if your focus is on God, your whole life will be filled with light. But if you’ve put something alongside of God, your whole body will be filled with darkness.
It’s a powerful statement. And then He goes on to make the statement about “No man can serve two masters.” You cannot serve both God and mammon. Then He goes on, still talking about money, talking about the birds of the air and the lilies of the field and material provisions. “And do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, what you shall drink, what you shall wear. The nations seek such things. Your heavenly Father knows you need such things.” But have a single eye. Seek first and foremost the kingdom of God, and He will give you everything you need.
Your whole life will be filled with lights. I mean, this is at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus spoke so often about money. You read His parables, and many of His parables have to do with the issue of money. And you read His teachings, including the Sermon on the Mount, so much has to do with money. And of course, that’s because money becomes an idol—perhaps the greatest idol of our time and certainly of our culture in the United States of America.
You may have heard of the 20/80 rule, sometimes called the 30/70 rule. It exists in churches. It’s existed for generations and for centuries, and it’s as true today as ever it was that 20% of the people in a church give all the money and 80% of the people do virtually nothing. Now, some statistics are closer to 30% of the people in the church give all the money, and 70% do virtually nothing.
Now, you can imagine that they’ve done a lot of studies on this, and what they’ve discovered is that the 70% who give nothing make exactly the same amount of money as the 30% who give. The people in the 70% often say to themselves, well, I would give if I made more money. I would give if times were better, I would give if things were just more flush economically. So somewhere down the road, I’m going to give. But the truth is, they already, statistically, have the same average income as the people who are in the 20% or the 30%. It’s just that the one group chooses to give and the other group chooses not to. And there has to be issues of idolatry and the whole issue of mammon.
They also found (have you ever wondered this?) who is giving to the parachurch. Who’s giving to Young Life, who’s giving to Youth for Christ, who’s giving to Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, who’s giving to Campus Crusade for Christ (or Cru), who’s giving to World Vision? And the answer is that it’s the same 20 to 30%. It’s that same group that’s giving to the kingdom of heaven all over the world. They’re giving to the church, they’re giving to the parachurch, and the 70% is not giving anywhere.
Something’s wrong in the heart. God loves us. He loves a hundred percent of us. He loves us all. He is also filled with grace, and He is also filled with mercy. He saved us by His grace. And He’s forgiven our sins as we’ve come to Him and embraced Him in faith and received Him as Savior and Lord. But there’s this warning. He loves us too much to let us get away with this. And His discipline comes in this life and, in some sense, in the life beyond. So there’s this warning about idolatry, and one of the greatest idols of our time is mammon.
There’s also a warning regarding sexual immorality. And I know this is a really fun topic for a lot. It’s a tough subject. I was thinking as the email went out this week disclosing what I was going to be talking about, “Nobody’s going to be there.” I mean, the week after Easter’s kind of a down week anyway, and now we got the bad weather and everybody was having their prom parties last night. And, and then people look at the subject and I think, wow, nobody’s going to be here. But thank God you are here. This is an important subject, sexual immorality. This is a warning. “We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day.” This was the judgment of God, as 23,000 fell to disease. It’s recorded in Numbers chapter 25. And you can go back and read the account in Numbers chapter 25 and how the Jewish people engaged in sexual immorality with the Moabites and the Midianites.
Now, the word that Paul uses for sexual immorality in his letter to the church at Corinth is the word “porneia.” And this word porneia originally meant “fornication.” The original meaning of porneia, this Greek word, was sexual relations between two unmarried people. So it was sex before marriage. That was the original meaning of porneia. And our English word fornication today is etymologically related to this Greek word porneia. Even though our English word fornication comes directly from the Latin for “fornicatio.” Now, the word porneia evolved, went through a kind of metamorphosis, as words do. And philologists and linguists are always pointing to the morphing of word meaning. And in the time of Christ, in the time of Jesus, this word porneia had a broader scope of meaning. It didn’t just mean sex before marriage. It meant any kind of sexual immorality. Every kind of sexual immorality in the time of Christ was called porneia. And when Jesus uses the word porneia, which He does on a number of occasions, it refers to any sexual immorality.
It can refer not only to fornication, but to adultery. Now, there’s a specific Greek word for adultery, “moicheia,” but the word porneia refers to adultery. It’s inclusive of adultery, as it has broader scope. So porneia, fornication, adultery… it refers to sex with prostitutes. And in fact, the Greek word porneia comes from the root word “porne,” which means prostitute. So sex with prostitutes is porneia. And we know as we look at the Hellenized world and the Greek speaking peoples of the world that the word porneia was oftentimes used to refer to homosexuality. It was used to refer to bestiality. It was used to refer to lust.
Jesus warned us about lust. He said, “If anyone looks upon a woman with lust, he’s already committed adultery in his heart.” And Jesus wants us to understand that sexual immorality is inward and it begins in the heart. It’s not just a matter of actions. There’s a sense in which we are all sinners with regard to our sexuality. Indeed, the fall of mankind just pervades every area of our life. And we’re just in a world that has fallen. The Bible says the angelic realm has also fallen. Nothing is as it was meant to be. David said, “In iniquity did my mother conceived me.” So he acknowledges that his sin has passed through generations and he was born in sin. So we’re born with all kinds of issues of sin. And God loves us all, and He wants to save us.
Now, we’re born in this condition, and this word porneia refers to lust. And what’s the English word? What’s the English word we get today from porneia? Pornography comes from porneia. It comes from “pornos” and “graphos,” so from porneia we get the word pornography. And pornography is pandemic in our time, in our culture, and in our nation, a multi-billion dollar business. And it used to be that pornography had to do with magazines. And now it’s on your TV set and on your computer. It’s everywhere present. And it’s all so tragic, as it objectifies men and women and turns human beings into objects of sexual use. And it takes dignity away from human beings and destroys relationships and marriages.
I was thinking an email I got. I get a lot of emails, but this email came about a month and a half ago, and it was from a member of the church who didn’t like a sermon I gave. I mean, that obviously happens. So I had a member of church who didn’t like a sermon I gave. And this person said that in my sermon I had mentioned John Kennedy, JFK, and I told that story about how JFK traveled with Billy Graham down to the Kennedy compound and had questions about the second coming. But I also, in the context, mentioned JFK’s sexual immorality and how he was a serial adulterer and some of what has come out in the recent memoirs but is well known to historians. And this person said, “Why did you have to bring that up? They said, why didn’t you just say good things about JFK?”
Then they said in the email, “I noticed that you mentioned Martin Luther King, MLK, and you said good things about him. He was sexually promiscuous. Why didn’t you mention that?” I assume and I hope that you all understand that in any given sermon I can’t give a holistic view of any individual. I use individuals as illustrations to make points, and I take a certain aspect of their life to illustrate a certain point. And that’s true. Hopefully, over a period of time, I can deal with people more thoroughly.
But then this person went on in the email to say, “And why are pastors like you always so concerned with sex? Why are you always talking about sex?” And I’m not always talking about sex. This church is 30 years old. I’ve been preaching for 30 years here, and I really rarely bring up sex. I rarely talk about sex, but it is an important subject. And he went on in his email to question whether sex is even important or even relevant, and just said we should let it go. And I think that’s a tragic perspective. I actually agree with Pope Benedict the 16th and what he said two months ago. Pope Benedict the 16th said that sex is destroying America. He said that America has lost self-control, that we’ve lost our boundaries, and that sex is destroying America.
I think there’s great truth to that. I mean, you can look at abortion. We’ve had 50 million babies aborted since the passing of Roe v Wade. And you know, there are multiple causes. It’s not just the sanctity of human life that is hanging in the balance. There are also issues relating to our cultural sexuality and the way we behave sexually. So what we have happening today are couples having sex and producing babies, but having no desire to raise those babies together. I mean, couples have sex and they don’t even love each other. They maybe don’t even like each other, but they have a baby and they don’t want to raise that child together. A lot of what happens in terms of 50 million babies aborted has to do with the sexual promiscuity of our culture and our time. And even of those babies that are born, 41% now are born out of wedlock. That’s a statistic that’s just astounding. And it’s going to have multi-generational impact, and it’s going to produce a series of brokenness in homes generationally and it’s so hard on kids. I mean, literally, this is destructive to America.
And we have sexual diseases that are pandemic in our country. Did you know that? We have STDs, sexually transmitted diseases, and some of them are viral and some are bacteriological. We have rampant viral diseases, from HIV and AIDS to genital herpes, and of course bacteriological diseases like chlamydia and gonorrhea and syphilis. Literally billions and billions and billions of dollars every year are spent on these diseases in the United States of America, taxing our healthcare system.
God loves us all, and He has offered to save us by grace through faith. And He’s died for us. But there are these warnings in scripture. I mean, if you’ve accepted Christ as Savior and Lord and you’ve entered the world of its grace, don’t just pervert grace to license.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” And I hope that in your heart… I mean, sex is this great gift. It’s this beautiful gift that God gave in His love for us. And it’s a gift that’s really meant to be opened in the context of marriage and meant to express the beauty and the love of marriage and the union and the oneness of marriage. And we’ve tainted it. And I hope you understand that God loves us so much. Everything He says to us is for our good.
You know, I remember this story that I read some years ago about these elderly women driving along in their car. And they were on a country highway in kind of a rural area, and the speed limit was 65, and they were just driving a little bit over 20 in a 65 mile per hour zone, so a cop pulled them over. The cop said, I pulled you over because you’re going 22 miles an hour and the speed limit is 65 and you know, I’m going to have to give you a ticket because you’re just slowing everyone down. And the lady that was driving said, well, I’m just driving the speed limit. He said, what do you mean? And she said, well, the signs all say 22. And he said, well, no, that’s highway 22. And then the cop looks into the backseat and he sees that a lot of the elderly women back there look kind of pale and kind of upset. And, and he says, is everything okay? And one of the gals said, we just came off Highway 119.
Now, we can understand even our civil laws are for our good, right? I mean, they’re really designed to protect us and bless us. I hope you understand that God’s laws are given in love and they’re all designed to protect us and to bless us.
Finally and very briefly, there’s a warning about grumbling and complaining. I mean, Paul basically warns the churches about idolatry, about sexual immorality, and about grumbling and complaining. And he says, “We must not grumble or complain, as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.” The reference is back to Numbers chapter 21. It was actually Numbers chapter 16, but if you read Numbers 21, Number 16, or Numbers 14, or even Hebrews three and four, it all describes the grumbling and the complaining of the children of Israel in the wilderness. So many passages speak of their grumbling, and it really kind of bummed God out. He just doesn’t like all the grumbling and complaining as He has provided and protected his people.
And yet there’s grumbling and complaining. In Hebrews chapter three and four, the Greek word for grumbling and complaining there “gonguzo,” which is onomatopoeiaic and it kind of sounds like grumbling and complaining. And you know, people do a lot of it. And God understands. I mean, there are times when you’ve just really had a bad day, times when something’s just horrible and it’s okay to fire off a complaint or two. But for some people it’s a lifestyle. I mean, grumbling and complaining is just a lifestyle. And it grieves God.
Barb and I just a few years ago were flying out to San Diego. I had a speaking engagement there and I’d been asked to speak to a pastor’s conference in San Diego. This was a national pastor’s conference for the Nazarene denomination and they asked if I would come and speak to the pastors, which I was happy to do. And so we got on the plane to fly to San Diego and here at DIA we were upgraded. Have you ever had that happen? We’d never had that happen. They upgrade us to first class. So now we’re flying first class to San Diego. And you know, it’s amazing. Did you know they serve food in first class? They serve food and they give you a menu. We were given menus, and the food really tasted good.
Barb and I were kind of just enjoying it. We were surrounded by people who had paid for first class and who normally travel first class. And it’s amazing. Right across the aisle there was this couple just complaining about everything. Thought the meat was too tough, the vegetables were not seasoned properly, and they were just concerned that the lemon dessert just was not of good quality. And they were just really, really complaining. And I was thinking, wow, complaining in first class.
That’s kind of a microcosm, isn’t it, of what’s happening in our country. I mean, God looks down on the earth, He sees all of the two-thirds world—He sees the whole earth, but He sees the poverty of the two-thirds world—and I think we’re kind of traveling in first class here, and there’s a lot of grumbling and complaining going on. And I think it really puts God to the test, because Christ is said to us as His people, “Give thanks in all circumstances. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Whatever’s good, whatever’s pure, whatever’s lovely, if there’s any innocence, anything worthy of praise, think on these things. Rejoice always. And again, I say rejoice.” This is the call of Christ upon His people, and grumbling and complaining kind of tests God. You don’t want to test God.
I remember a story about this guy that was in the national parks. He was hiking (and the national forest are huge) and he was lost. And so for days he wandered in the national force, unable to find his way out. He had water to drink, but he had run out of food to eat. And he was very concerned and very hungry. And as he was wandering around, he came upon a cliff, and just over the edge of the cliff he saw a bald eagle’s nest.
He was so desperate and so hungry, he thought, “If somehow I could capture that bald eagle at least I’d have something to eat.” And somehow he caught the bird and he cooked it up right there in the national park. And a forest ranger found him while he was cooking this bald eagle, and the forest ranger was just incredulous, because this is an endangered species and it’s not legal to kill them, let alone eat them. And so this guy was cited and he went before a judge. And as he went before the judge, the judge said, “It says here that you killed a bald eagle. Are you aware of the fact this is an endangered species? And you actually cooked it to eat it?”
And the guy said, “I did do that, but you see, I was starving. I was lost in the national forest. I didn’t know how to get out. I was so hungry. I was just starving, and I only did it because I was desperate.” And the judge said, “Well, that does put a little different light on it. The court’s going to show mercy to you and we’re going to let it go this time. but in the future, obey the law.” And then the judge said, “Well, one more thing. I’m just curious. What does a bald eagle taste like? Does it taste like chicken, like so many things? What does it taste like?” And the guy thought for a second, and he said, “Well, it’s kind of like a cross between a whooping crane and a spotted owl.”
So I think you would have to admit that’s testing the judge, right? I mean, that’s putting the judge to the test. You don’t want to do that with God. So, we look at our life in Christ, and the fact is that He’s ripped up our tickets as we’ve been saved by His grace and we’ve come to the cross and we’ve received Him as Savior and Lord. But He wants us to hunger and thirst after righteousness. He wants us to long to please Him. We should just look forward to seeing Him. And we want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We don’t want idolatry in our life. We don’t want to make a God of mammon. We don’t want to find our security and our worth in money. We don’t want to live for the pursuit of money. We want to pursue first the cause of heaven, the kingdom of heaven, and let the purposes of God be our purposes in life. And our lives will be filled with light. We want to reserve this beautiful gift of sex for marriage. We want to, in the midst of our brokenness and our sinfulness, strive for more righteousness and holiness, that we might please Him. We want to try to give thanks and be grateful along the way instead of grumbling and complaining. So let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.