Tag: following Jesus' example

Dethroning Idols

1 Thessalonians 1

Sunday, August 28, 2022

At FUEL this year, the theme was Battleground.  Throughout the week, we discussed the idols that we each have in our lives, whether they are of entertainment, power, pleasure, or something else.  At the end of the week, we discussed how to dethrone these idols and place God as the ruler of our hearts.


While reading 1 Thessalonians 1, we see that the people from Thessaloniki also had a problem with idols in their lives.  The Thessalonians had worshiped the Greek gods, at a previous point in their lives.  While their idols may not have been the same as the ones we face today, they still caused the separation from God that we experience when we give other things our hearts, instead of giving them to God.


Thankfully, however, the Thessalonians had turned away from their idols to worship God.  They realized that they were giving others the place that God deserves in their hearts.  They came to serve the living and true God, instead of the idols that they had previously worshiped.  We, too, must turn away from the idols we have in our lives and place God on the throne in our hearts.


The best part of this story, in my opinion, is what happened after the Thessalonians turned to serve the true God: their faith sounded forth in every place.  Everyone from Macedonia and Achaia had heard about the believers from Thessaloniki.  They had started to live their lives so similar to the way that Jesus had lived his life that they had become examples to all believers.  The Thessalonians’ faith had gone forth so much that Paul says that he has no need to say anything to those who had heard of their faith.


When you have cast away your idols and placed God on the throne of your heart, you will want to serve God in whatever way you can.  This does not mean that your faith may end up being heard about from the ends of the earth, like the Thessalonians, but it does mean that you will stand out from those in this world.  When God is the king of your heart, you will live a life that is different from those around you.  People all around the world may not hear of your faith, but those around you will notice it and will ask you questions.  The question is: Are you willing to cast away all of your idols and place God on the throne of your heart?

-Kaitlyn Hamilton

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. You might not have a problem worshiping Greek gods, but do you have any modern idols that you have given control of your heart (your love, your affection, your time, your finances, the place that only God deserves)?
  2. What will it look like to give the throne of your heart completely to God? Are you committed to this change? What steps will you take today?
  3. Who do you know that you admire for the way they follow Jesus? How can you be a good example to others in the way that you give God first place and follow Jesus?
2022 SeekGrowLove Bible Reading PlanDownload

Submit as our Lord Submits

John 5

April 2

I have noticed a common trend in people who have started their own business or way of life. One of the main motivations for them to begin was the ability to be their own boss. They can work at their own pace in their own way. They in a sense can excuse themselves from submitting to an authority above them. I am not accusing those who have done this of being sinful or doing the wrong thing. I am simply noting a human behavior that is core to us: we don’t always like to submit and sometimes our motivation to climb up in reputation or status is to excuse ourselves from the act of submission.

In light of this, I want to focus on something we see from Jesus in John chapter five. Jesus’ combination of position and attitude are profound and completely backwards to our way of operating. Who is Jesus? He is the one and only begotten son of God. He is the only man ever to live who never sinned in his life—he was quite literally perfect. He is the only man so far to have ever seen the full face of God. He is the only man who sits at the right hand of God. He is the man who is the dividing line between those who are in the kingdom of God and those who are not. So in light of this inconceivably high status and position, did he ever think he could excuse himself from submission to God? Well, let’s take a look at what he says in verse 19, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”

Here is the only man in existence who had every right to “excuse himself from submission” and do things his own way in our eyes. Yet, no one has ever submitted as completely and humbly as Jesus did. In fact, the only way he ever received that level of honor and power was through his act of submitting to Yahweh, God of the universe. Only through becoming lowly can you be raised on high!

Jesus is our Lord; what he does we must do. So, if he believes that he must submit himself completely to his Father and do only what he sees God doing, then we must submit ourselves completely to God too. Also, this act of submitting to God’s will in our life and dying to our own is not for God’s service at our expense. He is infinite, He has everything, there is nothing He could possibly gain from your service. So, what’s the point? Why submit and serve a God who doesn’t need serving? In all honesty, it is in your best interest. Submission to God is all about God but it is all for you. When a good and loving father tells his child to obey him, is it because he will benefit at the child’s expense, or is it because it’s in the best interest of the child? (I’ll give you a hint. It is in the best interest of the child.)

I encourage you to follow the example of our Lord Jesus today. He felt that he should submit himself completely to God, and we should too. Only through submission can we enter into God’s kingdom.

-Isaac Cain

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. Read John 5 looking for everything you can find out about Jesus. Who does he say he is? What does he do? What is his relationship with God and with men?
  2. What is the danger in studying Scriptures but not accepting Jesus for who he says he is?
  3. Jesus said he did not seek his own will, but the will of the one who sent him (vs.30). How will you follow his example and lay aside your own will to do the will of your Heavenly Father?
  4. Choose a verse from John 5 to write out and post on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror. What does this verse mean to you?
2022 SeekGrowLove Bible Reading PlanDownload