On the exterior, modern-day idolatry is a very respectable looking thing. I'm not bowing down to Baal or any other false gods, but I have replaced God as the number one spot in my life. Let's talk about how to correct that coming up right now on the Clear Read Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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That's right. Dr. Shah, welcome to the studio today. It's good to be here. That's right.
Good to be here. Good to see you. You know, we tend to assume, Dr. Shah, that God is number one in our lives, right? Right.
Because that's the Christian thing. He's supposed to be number one, and nothing is supposed to be more important than him. But our priorities often say something different. You know, our priorities typically tell us what we really put on the pedestal that God belongs to. Yeah, whatever you spend more time with or give more money to is really the God in your life.
Now, we may not. like bow down and worship that car or that house or that hobby, but it Inevitably becomes Godlike for us. It may even be a person, it may be your children, it may be your spouse, it may be somebody else in your life, maybe a friend. But whatever begins to take the most of your time and your money has taken the place that only belongs to God. Yeah, absolutely.
I think these modern idols that we usually struggle with are even more dangerous than maybe like a false idol or a false religious practice because that's easy to discern saying, hey, that's obviously not God. That's obviously not Christianity. Let's do away with that religious practice. But we are quick to rationalize and justify, like, well, you know, it's not, I'm just trying to get ahead. I'm just trying to, you know, establish myself.
I'm just trying to, you know, make sure this relationship is successful. I'm just trying to make sure my kids have the resources they need when in reality, we've turned these things into idols. Even on a broader scale, like if you, you know, Dr. Sha, I'm sure you've talked to plenty of non-believers who say, well, I mean, that's, that's. Very cool Christianese, but I don't worship anything.
Yeah. You know, I don't, you guys might worship something. I don't, I don't worship anything at all. Yeah, and you can say that any way you want to call it. But if it's, again, consuming more of your time and your money, then it is taking that place.
That's right. Now, what we find in the book of Nehemiah is that there are some lessons or some doctrines that we're going to learn. And I think it's great for us to learn it while we're going through the series. And hopefully it's going to help you in your leadership as well.
Now keep in mind, now we are in Nehemiah chapter 9, but in chapter 8. The Jewish people, under the leadership of Nehemiah, had listened to the word of God. They had been in a drought for many years, so it has been quite some time since they heard the word of God. But when Ezra the scribe read the book, the people stood there for five to six hours, nobody moved. And they wept.
Means there was a genuine Conviction, a spirit of repentance. There was this sense of coming back to God that we drifted away from God.
Now we have to get back to Him. And so they wept. But as they're weeping, Ezra, Nehemiah, the scribes, all the people, Levites began to console the people and say, Today's a good day. It's a happy day. Do not mourn.
Do not grieve. And then after that, we also learned that there was a celebration. The people did not just leave, go home, and have their family time. They actually came back together to celebrate the festival of booths. Living in these makeshift Huts Mid out of Branches of various kinds of trees.
They were Reminding themselves of God's faithfulness to them. God's faithfulness really to their ancestors. But really, the way the Jewish people have done it, or the people of Israel have done it, is each generation. Should So celebrate the festival of booths.
So celebrate. the festival of Passover as if you were there yourself. That was very important. And we as believers Who are coming right from the same foundation, the same taproot system. We also celebrate the communion as if we were there on that night in the upper room.
Where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper or the Passover with his disciples before he was betrayed. And then Crucified. We are to see ourselves as if we were there that night.
So As they're doing this, there are certain things they say. That I think are very important. I mean, they give us an insight into the belief system of God's people. And one of the insights that we find here is that God is three. And yet, one, or God is one, and yet.
In that oneness, there are three persons.
Now, hang on, partner. I was going to say, here's where we get messy. Here's where we start to trip up. Because what you're not understanding, Dr. Shah, this is people commenting online, is that you're in the Old Testament right now.
That's a very New Testament doctrine. Am I right on that? No, you're not. You're not right on that. I want you to hear what it says in Nehemiah chapter 9.
Now on the twenty fourth day of this month, the children of Israel were assembled with fasting. In sackcloth. Sackcloth was a kind of like a goat hair garment. and with dust on their heads. This is a sign they were nothing but the dust of the ground.
This is a sign of mourning, of grieving. When they put dust on the ground means like I am nothing, I'm just dust of the earth. Yeah. Then those Israelite Those of Israelite lineage are separated themselves from all foreigners At that point, why they were doing that, they were doing some intense repenting before God. They were not repenting unto salvation as much as for the wrong beliefs that they had learned from their Gentile neighbors.
God had called the people of Israel to be a light in the darkness, but Instead of influencing the Gentiles, they had been influenced by them.
So by separating, they were not like being hateful or prejudiced, they were simply saying, We are coming back to our foundation. Not that we hate these people, we ought to be a light to them. But since we haven't been, we are now to go and fan the flame of our torches before we go back and win them. We as a people need to make sure that our relationship with God is right. That's right.
Because if our relationship is not restored, how then can we lead? Other people that God has entrusted to us, how can we be the light when our own light is diminished? I mean, I think that's a great reminder for leaders today. You know, how are you leading someone if you like? I think you said that to me years and years ago.
How can you stand on stage and lead if you yourself are pumping a dry well? Yeah, you know what I mean? Very, very true. And so they distinguished themselves, they separated themselves from the Gentile neighbors, and they stood, it says right here, and they stood and confessed their sins. And the iniquities of their fathers, there is a place of confession, for confession.
There is a place for confession in the Christian life. where you tell God in your prayer time Or, whenever it is the time for you to talk to God, you have to tell God that you have sinned. Call it by its name, that is a sin. My anger My envy. my lust, my greed, my pride My insecurities, these are sins, call them by their name.
If you justify them, or if you rename them as that's just me being me, then you have. You know, you're condoning your sinful behavior. That's right. Yeah. This is just my struggle.
This is my personal little. Yeah. I was going to say that's something I've actively tried to work against and to help other people, you know, like my kids or my students or the people that I teach to work against that kind of language. Like, this is just my struggle. One thing I'm struggling with.
My journey, my battle. No, no, this is sin. Call sin sin because otherwise you're just going to soften it and you're going to be okay playing with it.
Well, yeah, it's a fictionalized thing, right? This is my struggle, my hero's journey. It means that your sin is a necessary part of your life. And it doesn't have to be. No.
You don't have to. And I think that's one thing that you always tie it back to Christ is you don't have to live that way anymore. That's right. But listen to these people there it says right here, and they stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for one fourth of the day.
So three hours they stood there listening. Means everything now is word based. We are people of the book. Even Muslims recognize that in the Quran, the Jewish people or the Israelites and the Christians have always been referred to as the people of the book. Why?
Because we are people of the word. It's not just my feelings or what else what is trendy right now. Or Or just what I have learned or experienced in life. No, I Am supposed to go by the Word of God, and the Word of God is the Book of God. That's exactly what they're doing here.
Absolutely. Living by the book, you know, that's one thing to say. It's another thing to live out every day of our lives. We are people who work in a ministry context, but there are plenty of our listeners who don't. And the Bible may not be a regular part of their lives.
Maybe it's something to where this radio show is their kind of lifeline to God's word, or maybe they open their Bibles on Sunday when their pastor tells them to. How can we bring the word? to bear in every day of our lives, in every area of our lives? What are some what are some steps that we can take to be people of the book? Every day there should be some action point, some application.
So this morning I did my devotion. I'm working through the book of Isaiah. I'm also reading the book of James, actually, not because I'm looking for sermons, because I'm doing a series on the book of James on the weekends, on Saturday night and Sunday mornings. But This is just my devotional time, happens to be in the book of James.
So, as I was reading this morning, first from the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah, then from the New Testament, the book of James, I look for some place where I need to practice, practice what I'm reading.
So, in Isaiah, there was something about how God will always be faithful to his people Israel. And so how did I apply it? I applied it by reminding myself that not only will God be faithful to ethnic Israel. But he will also be faithful to us who have been grafted into the vine.
So, if there are promises that God has given to you regarding your family, regarding your children, then trust God with those promises. Don't give in, don't give out just because you're going through some dark times.
Okay?
So, that was my first application. How can I give? My cares and my worries, my doubts and my fears to God. I need to pray about it. I need to say, God, this situation, this person.
This What happened, or this is what's coming in the future. I'm giving it all to you. And I'm praying, God, that you will work in this life, change their hearts, work in this situation, bring reconciliation, work in this situation, God. Let your glory be manifested in this place. Let the gospel go out.
I need to pray that. Amen. Yeah. And then in the book of James, my passage was regarding how bitter water does not come from a sweet spring, and how I forget the name of the trees, but how a fig tree does not bear apples and so kind of things.
So make sure that my foundation is where it needs to be. Right. You know, that I'm not operating. You know, kind of hypocritically, like I'm claiming to be this, but then this is coming out.
So that was my application. Examined my heart to see if there's any hypocrisy there. Yeah. So that's how I see it. Bible reading should have some level of application.
It's extremely wise. And I think it correlates back to what these guys are doing in the book of Nehemiah, right? Like they notice their hypocrisy. They see their sin. They see where, you know, maybe I never completely abandoned God, or maybe I did, but I have definitely started to love things more.
I've loved other idols and other gods more. And now we see this response and this repentance. And it relates to, you know, these voices of these influencers that you hear and you see on social media, people who almost have this mystical approach to Christianity and to a relationship with God. It's all about, you know, just sitting and resting and abiding and meditating. And which is, there's a place for that.
There's a place for this sort of contemplative approach. But I think we, by nature, are people who like to do. We're people who like to have an action. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look at any bookstore, and the self-help aisle is going to be, number one, the shelves are going to be overflowing.
And number two, it's going to be packed with people because we want, give me 10 steps, give me the next life hat. Give me whatever strategy I need in order to be successful in this area.
So, I think approaching your relationship with God and approaching reading the Bible from a what do I need to do standpoint, I think it's so helpful and it's so refreshing. Absolutely. And see what they say right here. It says in verse 3: they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. And what do they say?
Listen to verse 5. Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
So they got saved. recognize that all their false beliefs are You know, coming from the enemy, separated themselves from the Gentiles, read their Bibles, confessed the truth about the living God, and then worshiped Him. This is the order of things. Is this the order for us as well? I think so.
Yeah, absolutely. That response leading us to worship, leading us to, you know, apply this the way that it needs to be, but ultimately, worship God for who He is and what He has done. That's right. I think that if we approached church and we approached our relationship with God with that mindset, man, how different would churches across America be? You've said something once, Dr.
Shaw, that I think shook a lot of people, not because it was like shocking, but just because we don't think of it this way: that repentance is not, I used to act this way, now I act another way. Repentance is a change of mind. Do you want to just kind of elaborate on that and how this kind of translates both to them and to us? Of course. You know, if we go by repentance, is.
tears, then you're making tears as a prerequisite for It changed life. Tears may or may not happen. People often quote that passage, godly sorrow leads to repentance. Yes, godly sorrow does lead to repentance, but it's not just any kind of sorrow. This is godly sorrow means you truly understand.
The devastation that comes because of sin. You truly understand how God is holy and how he has been so merciful to you. And that moves you to tears. But if you just feel like, I need to be sorry and feel sorry, and then I can repent, that's not what this passage is. Yeah.
Tears aren't needed for repentance, nor do they necessarily indicate repentance. It's, you know, they may be there, but I think you're 100% right that that change of mind is what's needed.
Well, I think talking about you and you were talking about the self-help culture, especially among Christians, we don't want to change our thinking. We don't want to change our mind. That's more work than just buying a book that has the top 10 things. You know what I'm saying? Give me an action step.
Give me five steps to this. Give me a pathway to success. And that's why a lot of times on the show, we always save the action step for the end because I think a lot of people are looking for it. Just tell me, come on. Skip all this up.
Give me three things to do. Give me three things. Give me one thing and I'll subscribe to the show. But, Dr. Show, you just can't be a leader that way if you don't change.
You're thinking. That's right. It has to be from the inside. It has to be something that you're convinced of that you were not before. You know, that's how.
That's how I interpret that. It's not just. Being sorry or being sad for my sins.
So, why do they make this confession? Why do they lead to the point where they're saying, Hey, this is our God, this is the only God? Why, what brings them to this place? Because the confession was the first commandment that God gave to Moses as part of the Ten Commandments.
So, When it says right here that blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. what they're doing is that they are reiterating Or restressing, I guess, the Ten Commandments. Let's begin with the first one. In The first of the Ten Commandments, it says in Exodus chapter twenty, verse one, And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage you shall have no other gods before me. You later became part of the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6, verse 4: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. and every devout Jewish man or woman would pray this prayer. God, you are the only God and there is no other. They would pray that. It's kind of funny because we came out of Judges not very long ago, and it's such a drastic difference to see that that's the prayer that was given to Moses.
But what came before, you know, and what kind of always went back after was this cycle of sin where maybe they're praying that prayer, but it's definitely not getting practiced. Yeah. And so also in our lives. It's powerful to hear this is the prayer. This is the one they go back to because, I mean, we've talked about it on the show before, but idolatry was the pervasive struggle of God's people throughout the Old Testament.
They have this constant cycle of falling into the idolatry of the nations around them.
So to hear them say, you are the only God and there is no other, I mean, those words would have hit. Much closer to home than maybe we even read them.
Well, I think it's also easy, and maybe Dr. Sha, you can kind of weigh in on this too. I think it's so easy to look at that and say, wow, just a bunch of hypocrites. You know, they all pray one thing and then they go out and commit all these evil deeds and they do it over and over and over through history. These are God's people.
And I think. Am I God's people? You know, how many times have I sat in a church service and listened to the word and say, Amen? Yeah, I believe it. And then gone out and done the exact opposite.
Thought the exact opposite. All the time. We do it all the time. And so the very thing that we fuss at the people of Israel or the Jewish people for, oh, we do it worse than them. That's right.
Worse than them. That's right. So they might have prayed that prayer, but they definitely didn't practice that prayer. You know, when they prayed, Oh Lord God, you brought us out of the land of Egypt, on and on. Yes, they're praying it, but I'm not quite sure if they truly understand it.
First they begin by worshipping some Palestinian gods.
Sometimes they worship Baal, the Canaanite god of the storm.
Sometimes they worship Astoreth, the Canaanite goddess of fertility.
Sometimes they worshipped Kemosh, the Moabite god of war.
Solomon even built a sanctuary for Kemosh. Can you believe that? God, that's crazy. A temple just for. Was it one of his wives that wanted to do it?
Yeah, of course.
Sometimes they worshiped Molech, the Ammonite god to whom the child sacrifices were made. Later on, they even worshiped some Mesopotamian gods.
Sometimes they worship Kaiwan, the Babylonian god of the stars. And sometimes they worship Tammuz, the Sumerian goddess of vegetation.
So, a lot of different kinds of worships happen here.
Sort of buffet style of life. Today we're going to do this and then we're going to do that. But God, you're the only God. We got to say that to get it out of the way. But then I'm going to have a helping of this.
So I'm going to have a helping of this. I mean, we know they did that, but why? What led to that? Like, seriously, what led to this cycle of idolatry so egregiously throughout Israel's history? I would say.
Idols can be managed. They can be managed. I can put them. In a small sanctuary in my house, and close the doors, and I don't have to worry about them. Yeah.
I can make my own rules and get them to bless me. They're not doing anything, they're pieces of wood and stone. or bronze or iron. They're not doing anything. But I can Pretend that I have done it.
that have prayed to God. And those things right there represent God. If somebody pushed me and really tried to corner me, I would say, no, no, that's not God, but they represent God. But you see, for the moment I made that image and I have put it in that little You know, in the temple or the little makeshift dollhouse-type temple. Then I can control them.
Once I close the door, they don't see the bribes I'm taking. How I'm taking advantage of people. That's a great point. Yeah. So this so by making idols, we are able to manage God.
We make him manageable. Wow. That's so that's that's a eye-opening approach to the things that we Worship, the things that we, you know, devote our time and our energy to here because we can manage them. That's right. It's fitting God into our box, like these little boxes of deity that we have in our lives.
Now, Dr. Shaw, this is great fodder for a radio show. This is great for scholars. This is great for pastors and religious people who like to talk about these kind of things. But me who works a real job in the nine-to-five day-to-day, I don't know that I'm in the real world.
I'm in the real world, brother. I don't know that I'm sitting over here struggling with idolatry. How does this apply to the listener? How does this apply to the everyday Christian? I mean, anytime, as I mentioned earlier, anytime you give anything more time or money than anything else, that that thing has become God in your life.
So you may claim that, oh, I'm a Christian, but you have made an idol of your job, your health, some person.
some hobby, you have made that the God. Our God is a jealous God. He will not share His glory with another. Of course, he chooses to share his glory with us. But in truth, he will not share his glory with any false idol.
And so he has to destroy it. You know, that's what the people of Israel are doing. They're trying to accommodate the living true God with their pantheon.
Some of us might say in this year that we as Americans know better. We don't worship any false gods. But Oh, we do. I mean For some, our false god is money, for some, it is job career, for some, it is a hobby, and for some, it is their friends. And for some, it is entertainment.
So we are worshiping false gods. What is the action step? How do we confront and deal with the false gods in our own lives? I mean, confess. Ask God to forgive you.
Give it over to him. And be willing to take whatever repercussions that will follow. Because if it's. If your giving up your false gods is connected to your friends, then you may lose the friends. If giving up those false gods are connected to your family, you may be.
You may be on the verge of losing your family. they may not like you anymore.
So be willing to take that. Because following Christ Is costly. Yeah. And that's something that you can do today. The question is: are you willing to?
You know, typically you listen to a radio show like this every day, and the action step is: hey, go ahead and just say that prayer. Go ahead and read your Bible. Get in your devotional, but this is be willing today to give up something that might be really good. You know, that's the thing is, we think of these idols as these evil little images that we put, like you said, in our cabinet, we bow down to. But maybe our idol is something that I dearly love.
In fact, it probably is. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. If it's something I didn't care much about, it wouldn't hurt to give it up. But if I love it, if I treasure it, it's going to be much more costly.
But isn't God worth more than that idol for you? Isn't being obedient to him, isn't following his plan for your life worth more than this little box-sized God that you have created for yourself? What do we do, Dr. Shah, if this idol that we are devoted to is something in our lives, like say a marriage? If I have made an idol of myself, Spouse.
How do I give that over to God and accept the repercussions? But also still honor my marriage.
Well, you can still love your spouse, right? You can still show them love and. and adoration and care Without converting them into one of your idols. You can still do that. You can still love them, but not put them in that place where anything they say goes.
Or if they're not as spiritually minded, then we just go with the flow, with whatever you decide to set as the agenda of our family, of our children, then we're just going to go with you. If you feel like, ah, we're going to have a family time, we don't need to be in church, then we're going to go with you. Or if you have some.
Some view, some view on social or political issues, then we as a family will sort of follow your lead. No, we cannot do that. Yeah, that's right. We have to obey the word of God, we have to stick to God's word. That's right.
It sounds like for some of those things, it's not always. Cut. Cut the idol off. It's Put the idol in its proper place. Yes, yes, yes.
Take it from the shelf that is reserved for God and put it back in the shelf where it needs to be. Amen. We got about three minutes left in the show, but Dr. Shell, someone's listening to this for the very first time and they're saying, you know what? I don't think I've ever even put God first in my life at all.
I don't know if I'm saved or not. Can you just lead them down that road? Just a quick one-minute prayer just to get them started and to help them turn their lives over to Jesus. Absolutely. You know, God doesn't tell you to go ahead and get rid of the gods with a small G, the gods out of your life before you can be saved.
No, come as you are. If you have gods in your life, if you have things that are dominating your life, if you have addiction issues in your life, come as you are, and then God will one by one crash. And destroy these idols in your life.
So, very simple prayer that says, Jesus, come into my life, forgive me of my sins and take over, and I will follow you the rest of my life as you help me. I believe that you're God's son. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins. I believe that you were buried, but you rose again, and you're alive today. You're sitting at the right hand of the Father, but you're also here with me.
I believe you, I trust you. That's all needs to happen. Amen. Yeah. And if you pray that prayer for the first time today, we want to rejoice with you and we want to help you in the next steps in your walk with God.
So, write in and let us know: 252-582-5028. That's right. And thank you to all of our monthly donors over on pray.com, Abadanshah.com. And if you've never heard the show before or you've never connected with any of the ministries happening here through Dr. Abadan Shah's ministries, make sure you join the mailing list.
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