EARS TO HEAVEN, EYES ON IDOLS- 1 John 5:18-21

We live in Vanity Fair—a world of endless distractions and false promises—but as God's children, we are protected, positioned, and enlightened to walk through without being trapped by idols.

The Problem: We Live in Vanity Fair — 1 John 5:21

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

"An idol is anything your heart clings to or relies on for life, security, or meaning — other than God." — David Powlison

• Like Bunyan's Vanity Fair, our world is a marketplace of desires that trap pilgrims with ease rather than hardship
• Idols aren't just carved statues but anything we run to for comfort, identity, hope, or control—status, approval, comfort, self-righteousness
• These aren't evil things but good gifts from God that become cruel masters when made ultimateIdols promise what only God delivers: peace, protection, provision, and identity
  
  

Solution 1: You Are Protected — 1 John 5:18

"We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him."

• If you've been born of God, sin is no longer your master—you may visit it but don't live there anymore
• Satan can tempt but cannot seize and hold you—his grip has been broken
• Your addiction, pride, and fear of man have been defanged; you're a pilgrim passing through, not a slave in Vanity Fair
• Jesus keeps every promise that idols only advertise—His peace, protection, provision, and identity never fail
  
  

Solution 2: You Are Positioned — 1 John 5:19

"We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."

• "From God" indicates your origin and allegiance—your passport says "Citizen of the Celestial City"
• The world "lies" in the evil one's grip like someone comfortably resting, not fighting or resisting
• Why chase Vanity Fair's trinkets when you're heir to a Kingdom? You already have what idols promise to sell
• When you know where you're from and where you're headed, the fair's bright lights lose their appeal
  
  

Solution 3: You Are Enlightened — 1 John 5:20

"And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."

• Jesus doesn't just rescue you—He rewires your perception to recognize reality as it truly is
• You have the capacity to know the difference between the real God and counterfeits
• The more you know Him, the less impressive idols become—you can spot the fakes
• Once you've tasted Him, everything else feels like stale bread compared to the fullness of joy in Christ
• Like Christian and Faithful, you can walk through Vanity Fair without buying anything, keeping your eyes fixed on the Celestial City

BBCC Verse of the Week: 1 John 5:21 (ESV) Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Study Notes

What a privilege to know that the Son of God has come! But Christian knowledge of the truth must be more than the acknowledgment of Jesus’ birth and death; it must entail trusting Jesus as the source of understanding about God. Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, has given us “understanding” (διάνοια, dianoia) — that facility and disposition to comprehend the significance of his coming. This is the same word Jesus used when he summed up the greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind [dianoia]” (Matt 22:37; cf. Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). The word is also found in the ancient Greek translation of that great promise in Jer 31:33 as the place where God will write his laws of the new covenant: “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. I will put my law in their minds [dianoia] and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. To know “the True One” is to be “in” him through his Son, Jesus Christ. This concept is similar to the apostle Paul’s idea of union with Christ (Rom 6:5; 1 Cor 6:17; Phil 2:1). To be “in Christ” is to be joined to his eternal life, his destiny; this is the basis for Jesus’ statement, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). – Karen Jobes

People are idol-makers, idol-buyers and idol-sellers. We wander through a busy town filled with other idol-makers, idol-buyers, and idol-sellers. We variously buy and sell, woo, agree, intimidate, manipulate, borrow, impose, attack, or flee. But there is a bigger Gospel. At the gates of Vanity Fair, Christian met a man who entreated him and his companion:

“Let the Kingdom be always before you; and believe steadfastly concerning things that are invisible. Let nothing that is on this side of the other world get within you; and, above all, look well to your own hearts, and to the lusts thereof, for they are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Set your faces like a flint; you have all power in heaven and earth on your side.” (Bunyan)

Christian passed through Vanity Fair bloodied but purer in heart. He remembered, amid hard combat with world, flesh, and Devil, the Celestial City which was his destination, and the Lord Jesus who beckoned him to life. The biblical Gospel delivers from both personal sin and situational tyrannies. The biblical notion of inner idolatries allows people to see their need for Christ as a merciful savior from large sins of both heart and behavior. The notion of socio-cultural-familial-ethnic idolatries allows people to see Christ as a powerful deliverer from false masters and false value systems which we tend to absorb automatically. Christian counseling is counseling which exposes our motives—our hearts and our world—in such a way that the authentic Gospel is the only possible answer. – David Powlison https://www.ccef.org/idols-heart-and-vanity-fair/

 Take-Home Applications

• Identify your favorite "booth" in Vanity Fair—what do you turn to for comfort, identity, or security instead of God?
• When you hear idols' sales pitches this week (fear, control, approval), remember your true identity: protected, positioned, and enlightened.
• Stop browsing the stalls of comparison on social media or chasing the next purchase that promises satisfaction—fix your eyes on Christ instead.
• Practice saying "no" to the whisper "if you just get this, you'll finally be okay" by reminding yourself of what you already have in Jesus.
• If you've never been born of God, today can be the day you trade the market stalls for the Shepherd's care by trusting Christ's death and resurrection.
• Walk like the free heir you are—when Vanity Fair calls, remember your Father's voice is louder and His promises are true.

For next week – read Ruth chapter 1                                                Pastor Samuel Sutter //  sam@BBCCOnline.org

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