Ezekiel 14 is one of those seminal passages in Scripture that show what God looks at.
He looks at our heart.
I want to tell you about the idols of the heart because everybody has idols in their
life and you've got to be asking the question, like, what do I mean by an idol?
Because the impression we have is of some figurine, some statue, or some temple that
you go to, and we would say in America that we don't have any, we don't have these kind
of temples, we don't have any statues in our house that we worship.
I'm talking more about what I think is more scriptural about the idols.
Idols of the heart would be those things that are misplaced in their order of importance
and are greater than our relationship with God, more important than our security and
significance found in Christ.
So it's not a bad thing most of the time.
I mean, it could be, but I'm speaking of even those good things in our life like marriage
and family and our job and our finances, those things are important.
But if they get misplaced, they become an idol in our heart.
So the question of whether one has an idol in their heart might be to ask the question,
what's that one thing or what are those things in your life that if it was taken away would
also just cause you to just go into deep, I'm not talking about grieving, but into such
deep despair that you wouldn't know what to do about your life.
That's an idol.
That's an idol in your life that you're so focused on that thing.
It could be a romantic relationship.
It could be making a lot of money.
It could be being seen as successful.
Everybody's different, but that would be an idol of the heart.
Well, in the Old Testament, the elders of Israel come to Ezekiel asking him a question
and Ezekiel has an interesting answer.
This is actually Ezekiel 14 and he gives an answer that these men were not expecting
and he talks about idols of the heart.
Here's what he says.
Now, some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me and the word of the Lord
came to me saying, son of man, these men.
So he's talking about the elders who've come to him.
These men have set up idols in their heart, underline that.
Idols in their hearts and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity.
Should I let myself be inquired of at all by them?
In other words, God is speaking through Ezekiel to the elders and I think it's fascinating
what happens here.
He doesn't say idols like they would think of the high places in Israel where people
worshiped idols, but rather idols of their heart.
He continues in verse four, therefore, I speak to them and say to them, thus says the Lord
God, every one of the house of Israel who sets up idols in his heart, underline that.
Idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity and then
comes to the prophet.
I, the Lord will answer him who comes according to the multitude of the idols in his heart
that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart because they are all estranged from
me by their idols.
You see what's happening here is that God is identifying the reason that Israel has
fallen into idolatry outwardly in their behavior, in their worship is because they have idols
in their heart.
That's the issue.
That's, that's the crux of the matter is the idols of their heart.
Verse six, therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God repent, turn away from
your idols.
I think now he's talking about even the physical idols in Israel, turn your faces away from
all their abominations for any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who dwell
in Israel, that would be non Israelites, non Jew who separate himself from me and set up
what idols in their heart, underline that and puts before him that which causes him
to stumble into iniquity.
Then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me.
I, the Lord will answer him by my
I will set my face against you, against that man, make him a sign, a proverb, and I will
cut him off from the midst of my people, then you shall know that I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 14 is one of those seminal passages in scripture that show what God looks at.
He looks at our heart.
And in 2 Chronicles, we read that the eyes of the Lord move across the whole face of
the earth, looking, searching for those whose hearts are completely His.
He said of David, here is a man who is a man after my own heart.
And even with all that he went through and the sin that David committed, even later in
the New Testament, he was still considered a man after God's own heart.
So God looks at the heart.
If you remember the story of David, 1 Samuel 16, when Samuel goes into Bethlehem looking
for a new king, they don't know that he's clandestine.
Even the house of Jesse doesn't know why he came to Bethlehem.
And he can't figure out who's the right person to lay hands on.
And he looks at Eliab, the oldest, and he's thinking, oh, it's going to be Eliab, because
Eliab is the tallest, probably the finest looking, maybe the most intelligent in the
family.
I don't know.
But something definitely caught the eye of Samuel.
Much like Samuel, when he had gone and identified Saul, he was the tallest, he was the most
handsome in all of Israel, it says.
But then it's interesting, because the Lord says to him that man looks at the outward
appearance, but God looks at the heart.
So God's searching for the heart.
And here Ezekiel is saying, look, you elders, you have a counterfeit God in your heart.
You have idols in your heart.
And I'm going to give you some definitions here.
I think an idol is anything that gives you identity, purpose for living, and happiness
that's greater than God.
Again, I'm not saying that these things are bad.
I'm going to say, I'm going to give you some language here as we move along that they're
out of order.
Anything you rest in your heart more than God, it gives you security, it gives you purpose
more than God.
St. Augustine, in his book that I mentioned earlier the last time, The Confessions, he
called it disordered love, disordered love, love that is out of order.
Loving something as primary when it should be tertiary, loving something first when it
should be second, loving something second when it should be third.
It could be career, it could be family, it could be finances.
Of course, you're supposed to love your spouse.
I love Liz dearly, but am I supposed to love Liz more than I love Jesus?
No.
I love being a pastor.
I love my vocation.
I love what I get to do throughout the week and hour by hour during the day.
I like being a pastor, but am I supposed to love being a pastor more than I love Liz?
Am I supposed to love Liz more than I love God?
So St. Augustine called that disordered love, being out of order in our love.
We might think of idols as something like child sacrifice, and that certainly happened
in ancient times, and it still happens today in certain parts of the world.
So we might think of idolatry as child sacrifice, but all they care about is their career.
All they care about is their money and making more money and moving up the ladder of success.
That can be child sacrifice.
The children of that family being sacrificed at the altar of success, having no time with
their mom and dad, become angry.
They get to be 13, 14, 15, 16 years old.
There's this anger that starts to come out, and here's what's crazy, is oftentimes it
derails the career of that person because they neglected their kids, and everything
was about money.
Everything was about success.
And so in the end, they still lose.
But that's child sacrifice.
That's what I'm talking about.
Idolatry of the heart.
Idol of the heart.
A career can become an idol of the heart.
Even in marriage, I counsel couples on a pretty regular basis.
Sometimes I get into these counseling sessions, and we're talking about an issue.
And I'll ask the question, like,
well, what if that doesn't ever change?
What if that person never changes in that area?
Well, then we're just gonna get a divorce.
Okay, well, can you forgive them
for what they've done wrong?
Well, yes.
And of course, that's always the right answer, by the way,
when you're talking to a pastor,
is yes, you can forgive them.
But I know after a few times of discussion,
it's not gonna happen.
They haven't really forgiven.
You see, there's an idol in their heart.
The idol is that thing where they were hurt by that person.
So that's what I mean by an idol of the heart,
is that it gets in the way of our passion and love for God.
Men and women, the question before you is,
do you have some idols in your heart?
We all do, by the way.
And sometimes they're even good things, good things.
I was counseling years ago this guy who was so angry.
He was just always angry.
And I said, you know, you come across as kind of an angry guy
and he goes, yeah, I've heard that before.
And I said, well, what are you so angry about?
And he didn't know how to identify it.
He had no idea.
I started asking some questions
and it was not what I expected.
He wasn't angry at his wife.
He wasn't angry about his job.
He was actually angry at his son
because he wasn't a terrific athlete.
And so it was like,
well, he's probably never gonna be an athlete.
I mean, he's 18 now and I mean, he's okay,
but he's not gonna be like this stellar collegiate
NCAA All-American athlete.
And he was angry because he had put his hopes
in this young man becoming something that he never was.
That's an idol.
That was an idol in his heart.
And it was something we had to identify.
And fortunately for him and exciting for me,
I was able to lead him through a process
of surrendering this idol in his heart.
And he got set free and his relationship
with his son was really restored.
So it was very, very exciting.
But how about you?
Do you have some idols in your heart
that are hindering you from being all
that God's called you to be?
Well, we're gonna explore this a little bit more next time.