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Deuteronomy Episode 3 - Sacred Jealousy: God's Call to Undivided Devotion
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What happens when our passions become our gods? In this thought-provoking exploration of Deuteronomy, we uncover the ancient wisdom that speaks directly to our modern struggle with subtle idolatry.
Joined by pastor Duane Morgan, theologian Paul Blackham, and psychiatrist Dr. Sunil Raheja, we dive deep into Moses' warnings about the dangers of misplaced worship. The Israelites were commanded to completely destroy the idols of Canaan – not merely set them aside – foreshadowing Jesus' radical language about cutting off hands and plucking out eyes. This uncompromising approach reveals why half-measures fail when dealing with things that compete for our ultimate allegiance.
We examine why prosperity can be spiritually dangerous, how God uses wilderness experiences to reveal what's truly in our hearts, and why self-righteousness subtly leads us away from grace. The golden calf incident serves as a powerful warning about how easily we attribute God's blessings to other sources – whether careers, relationships, or possessions.
Most powerful is the realization that freedom from idolatry begins with receiving God's love rather than striving to earn it. As Martin Luther observed, "Whatever your heart clings to is your idol." By examining what captures our daydreams and renewing our minds with Scripture, we can break free from the things that silently steal our devotion.
Whether you're struggling with subtle idolatry, wondering why faith seems harder during good times, or seeking to make God your true passion, this episode offers practical wisdom for living with undivided hearts in a world full of competing gods.
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Welcome to Deuteronomy: Third Study
Speaker 1Hello and welcome back to Book by Book . I'm Steve Nicholls and it's great to have you with us for our third study on the book of Deuteronomy . I'm joined today by Duane Morgan , pastor of Catch the Fire Church here in London , and by Paul Blackham , church minister , church planter and theologian , and by Dr Sunil Raheja , psychiatrist , coach and author . We talk a lot about our passions today . I'm passionate about social justice or the environment , or my family or my career , or simply I'm passionate about food or football . Well , the book of Deuteronomy counsels us if the Lord , god , is not our passion , then our passions will be our God and they have the power to take us to some bad places . Let's get into the Bible , if you've got one there . I'm going to read a few verses from Deuteronomy , chapter 8 . Deuteronomy , chapter 8 .
Speaker 1The Israelites are about to enter the promised land and Moses , their leader , is preparing them for their life ahead .
Speaker 1Land and Moses , their leader , is preparing them for their life ahead .
Speaker 1Be careful , moses says , to follow every command I'm giving you today so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers . Remember how the Lord , your God , led you all the way in the desert these 40 years , to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart . Whether you or not you would keep his commands . He humbled you , causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna which neither you nor your fathers had known to teach you that man does not live on bread alone , but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord . Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these 40 years . Know , then , in your heart , that as a man disciplines his son , so the Lord , your God , disciplines you . Paul , as the Israelites are about to enter the promised land , they must reject very violently all the practices of the pagan nations they find there , don't make a treaty with them , break down their idols , and so on . Why is that ?
Speaker 2Yeah , it is . And the language in the beginning of chapter 7 there is very intense . And if you look at verse 5 , this is what you are to do Break down their altars , smash the sacred stone , cut down the Asherah poles , burn the idols . And you're like well , can't you just like , put them in storage or something it's like ? And the Lord's like no , you can't just put them in storage , because that's what we tend to do with our idols . We like be like oh yeah , I'm just going to put that aside for a while . And the Lord's like no , no , you've got to get that smashed or burned or cut down .
Speaker 2And throughout church history , that's what , when you know this famous like it was that guy who went over and you know he cut down a sacred oak that the Druids worshipped . Why did it work ? It has to be that way , in a way , because the idols , even if we go nah , I'm not going to worship that anymore , but I'll just leave it there . And the Lord's like nah , because when you're hungry , angry , lonely or tired of something , you're going to go back and worship it . And that's why Jesus , in his own language , he's like cut off hands , pluck out eyes . It's this like you've got to be really radical about getting rid of these things that drag you down , and that's right the way , though in Deuteronomy he's like well , let's make sure get rid of it put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature .
Speaker 1It's that sort of language .
Speaker 2It is , and that's all the way through , isn't it that when we we look at the cross of Jesus , we that's what Jesus has done for me . But actually it's like , yeah , but Jesus says you must come and be crucified with me so that you die to that old humanity and I'll give you a new one , Wonderful .
Speaker 1Thank you , Paul Duane . If I may , from your own ministry and experience , how can we break free of these idols and gods that so capture our hearts and minds ?
Speaker 3I think the first thing is knowing the word , knowing the law , knowing what God has said , being very intentional about reading your Bible on a consistent basis . We have a problem with this because a lot of people now this , oh , that's religious , that's this , and people get distracted from actually just putting it inside of us . And the Bible says about be transformed by the renewing of your mind , and the renewing of your mind is continuously taking what the world is putting in , which is where the idols are going to come from , and it's changing our mindset to what God actually says . The other obstruction is like when people get saved . When we set a foundation , it's kind of like teaching these younger Christians what they're signing up for . You know , jesus says to count the cost .
Speaker 3I think a lot of the times we get saved and then we kind of start to do our journey and we're not discipled properly and this is what happens .
Speaker 3We start to allow things into our mind and the world begins to influence this , and then we have a really worldly Christianity and we kind of have Jesus with this idol on the side .
Speaker 3We kind of have Jesus with this thing that I like to do over here and because we're not filling our minds with this , we're not actually aware that we've actually got an idol , and so one of the things is being aware that we have an idol .
Speaker 3The second thing is knowing what God loves and knowing what God hates and aligning ourselves to those things . I think the most important thing is actually renewing our minds with the word of God and aligning ourselves and submitting to it . And even when it doesn't make sense , I know God is right and I'm not . And that takes humility , and that's why he said said God's to resist the proud , but he gives grace to the humble . Because when you humble yourself and say God , you know best , through the word , he changes us and we begin to love what he loves . And so I would really to put the idols away , to actually smash them , to violently put them away , you need to receive the love of God , and so I would say that's the . The first part is to make sure that this is really in you and really chew on it .
Speaker 1That's so helpful . Being transformed by the renewing of our minds , as you said , changing the soundtrack of our heads and of our hearts . Yes , that's wonderful . So now , if I may , what's so special about God's ancient church of Israel ? What set them apart as a people ? Yes , I think .
Speaker 4Steve , if we look at Deuteronomy , chapter
Breaking Down Idols Completely
Speaker 47 , verse 7 , I think the key of it is over there . He says the Lord did not set his affections on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other people , for you were the fewest of all peoples . But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery , from the power of Pharaoh , the king of Egypt . And I think what sets them apart is not because they were more powerful or stronger or more intelligent or more deserving , because they certainly weren't . It was because God chose to set his love upon them . He loved them , because he loved them . That was the key thing and that's , in a sense , that's a mark of grace that we come to God , not because of anything good about us , but because of his greatness and his goodness and his love for us .
Speaker 4And you said , duane , earlier on , you said about walking humbly . And the danger is that we start thinking , especially when we're doing well and things are going you know and God blesses these Israelites that he prospers them . And what do they do ? They forget him . They start thinking oh , it's because of our mighty hand , it's because we're so great that we defeat these enemies . No , it's not because of your greatness and goodness , it's because of God's goodness to you .
Speaker 4And he's actually using you to judge the other nations who are living totally apart from god . And if you live like them , you're going to have the same treatment as well , which is what ultimately happens in the scriptures . And so they're called to be a distinct holy people who are separate and set apart for his holy use and as disciples . That's the same for us . You know you're talking about idols earlier on um paul , and there's no compromise with idols . You can't just sort of say but the problem is , you know , idolatry we say , you know , I think martin luther said is that the human heart is an idol factory . We're always creating something in the place of god . We just because we're worshiping creatures . You know people say that we don't . We know we're not a religious nation and religion's gone out the window no it hasn't .
Speaker 4We are worshipping just as much as ever before . We always have to . I have to worship something , be that my football team , be that my family , be that , be that my career , always , we're creating these , but the people of god are called to be distinct . They're they're the ones who are called to put god on the throne and say that he is our , our passion , he is the one who we live for .
Speaker 1Now we get it wrong and we fall away , but that's our calling and saved by grace , and that's the pattern throughout the Bible , isn't it ? It's by grace you've been saved , through faith , and this not of yourselves . It's a gift of God , not by works so that no one can boast . He says it so many times , doesn't he ? By grace , by grace , paul . Moving on to chapter 8 , verses 1 to 5 , moses reminds the Israelites of the manna , this bread from heaven that the Lord provided day after day , those 40 years in the wilderness . Why did the Lord
When God Makes His People Hungry
Speaker 1make his own people hungry ?
Speaker 2Yeah , and it's the first thing he does when they come out of Egypt . They're like oh , good times . And then the first thing he does , he first of all gets them trapped against the Red Sea , with the Egyptians coming to kill them . He goes yeah , and what are you going to learn ? Trust me . And then he gets them through to the other side . It's like we're all going to die no food or water . And he's like or , you're going to trust me . And that is that point .
Speaker 2He actually says , like I did that to humble you , causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna to teach you that human beings don't live on bread alone , but everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord . And he also said I wanted to know what was in your heart verse 2 . And that's what happens , like in good times . You're like yeah , I'm all right , I'm a really good Christian actually . And then it's like but how are you going to be under pressure when everything's been taken away from you ? Do you know what is really in your heart ? Then , like , what do you say ? What I need most of all is money , food , you know whatever it is . And I was like nah , you need me , you need me , and so that's what he wanted to do really early on .
Speaker 2Say , if I take away the things that you think you need , do you realize that I am the bread of heaven , I'm the . You know , from me you can get living water and all that and it's . It is so hard because it you know , the Jesus . The first thing he did at the beginning of his ministry he said I'm gonna fast for 40 days , I'm gonna make myself really , really hungry to teach myself this lesson that I'd rather die of hunger than miss out on God , the Word of God , yeah , and we so often go after the sort of treasures and pleasures of this world and think we find our life in them , don't we so , duane ?
Speaker 1the Bible warns us , if we hold on to these treasures of this passing age , we're going to perish with them . This is sort of chapter 8 , verses 19 and 20 . We reap what we sow . Our heart is where our treasure is , and all that . So how do we learn to love the Lord , god , rather than the decaying idols of this age ?
Speaker 3the Bible says we love God because he first loved us . And if you you take what it represents , I believe that there is a receiving from God first , that when we become saved , when we come into Christ , when we become children of God , when we're adopted when we were enemies and now we're now children of God , there is a love that we receive from God because you can't give anything you haven't received . The Bible says that freely I have received , then freely I will give , and so there is a . There is a receiving of the love of God first that we're actually able to love . I know what we tend to do is we love to use that commandment that says love the Lord , god , with all your heart , mind , soul and strength , and then love your neighbor as yourself . But actually Jesus comes later on and says a new commandment I give you love one another the way that I have loved you , and so actually he's up the standard . But it's not not by might , not by power , but by your spirit . So when our spirits are regenerated , when we give our lives to Jesus , it's actually imperative that we learn to receive the love of God first . And it's amazing how many Christians you see that are beaten up , feel unworthy . They haven't received that love . They've kind of given their lives to God , but they're like they don't know him as a father , they don't know him as one that loves him , and so it's really hard to actually love God back , first and foremost because actually I'm receiving from you , god . I'm giving it back to you because I'm actually loving you out of the love that you give me . I'm loving you out of what you've done for me . And you look at the cross , you look at the resurrection All of that was for me .
Speaker 3And sometimes we use that saying if you were the last person on earth , god still would have died for you . And they're like yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah . And it's like a cliche thing that we say , but it's so powerful when you really grasp the revelation of what it means to be loved by God first , and when you learn that you're loved by God first , everything you do is out of that love and not to be loved , and therefore you come out of law and into grace . And so , yeah , you've got to be loved first , you've got to learn how to receive his love first . It's , it's really imperative . I think I was a Christian for about two years and then for the second two years . I actually spent two years learning how to receive the love of God first . So , yeah , that would be my answer . We got to learn how to learn how to receive the love of God first . So , yeah , that would be my answer . We've got to learn how to be loved first before we can love others .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's so helpful . Thank you so much . Very helpful , Sunil . In chapter 8 , again , Moses reminds the people of the wonderful things that the Lord was about to give them . But prosperity and comfort , I think , as we've alluded to , can be a real danger for god's people . Why ?
Speaker 4why is that ? It's a huge danger . I mean in the passage , and actually on chapter 8 , verse 10 , he says when you have eaten and are satisfied so you're not fasting anymore , when you've eaten satisfied .
Speaker 4It says praise the lord , your god for the good land he has given you . Then it says be careful that you do not forget the lord , your god , failing to observe his commands , his laws and decrees that I'm giving you this day now . Remember it's praise , because praise him
Learning to Receive God's Love First
Speaker 4otherwise . And he said otherwise , verse 12 when you eat and are satisfied , when you build fine houses and settle down , and when you , your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied and this is the crunch line then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord , your God , who brought you out of Egypt , out of the land of slavery . And this is the big challenge is that when God blesses us , we forget the one who's blessed us and we focus on the blessing and that becomes our God , that becomes our idol . And it's just so subtle . There's this lovely story that always makes me laugh . There's this farmer , okay , and he's got two cows . And he says to his wife one day God has been so good to us , he's given us two cows . We've got more than enough . What I want to do is I want to dedicate one cow to God's service , and one cow . We're just going to live off everything from that cow . His wife says that's wonderful , that's great .
Speaker 4The next day the farmer goes to milk the cows . He runs back to his wife in the morning and says I've got really bad news . She said what happened In the night the Lord's cow died . And isn't it always the case ? We say we love God and then , when we're tested , what our real , what our real god is revealed . But where's the root of that ? You know ?
Speaker 4I think you're saying duane again . It's got to come from a place of abundance . I've got to see that he's loved me first . He's done everything . Everything I have is his anyway . And the Lord gives and the Lord takes away . And if he's , if he's promised me his son , if he's promised me everything in Jesus . Even if I'm going through a hard time , even if I can't see one cow has died I don't know how I'm going to survive I've got to trust that he still has the master plan , but it comes from a heart of praise and adoration that everything I have is from his . Otherwise , you know , it's this . The big danger is pride . If anything you know , one sin that God probably detests more than anything else is pride , because pride is what separates us from it . It says , actually , I don't need you , I'm good enough as I am , I'm doing fine . Thank you very much . I don't need you know , I don't need your charity . And God opposes the proud , but gives grace to the humble as the scripture says .
Speaker 1Well , pride's a big thing , isn't it in these chapters ? And we come to chapter nine , paul particular , verse four , which says after the lord , your god , has driven the nations out , before you do not say to yourself the lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness . Why is self-righteousness so dangerous ?
Speaker 2all the way through the bible , actually yeah , well , and it's picking up on your point to end about like , oh , I can't believe he really loves me , just like it , because we always think , no , he will love me if I do the right things and if I'm , if I , if I achieve like the goal and we can easily do that and we can evenly go . Oh yeah , I'm doing quite well in the christian life at the moment because I've done all the right things and it's like , well , that is good , you know , it's good that he's not that he does what he is training us up to to be like him . But fundamentally underneath it all , it's this is love , not that we loved him , but that he loved us and gave himself for us . And so , underneath it all is this constant thing of saying , oh yeah , you see , all this blessing , got the promised land , all this good stuff and the giants .
Speaker 2Well , to be honest , we , we were , we were really good warriors and that's how we beat the giants . And I was like , no , it isn't , you were , you were too scared to fight the giants . I defeated the giants . And it's like , fundamentally underneath it all , is that idea . It's like no , he's actually saying let me be the warrior to go ahead and fight , and it's because I love you and it's not because you're good , because I actually will love you even at your worst , and that's that wonderful thing and we want the glory to come to us .
Speaker 4but the glory has to go all to him . It has to go to him . It has to go to him . That's our problem .
Speaker 2And he loves us out of the West and that's why sometimes in the creed and it'll say he descended to hell . I kind of think that's what the cross is all about descending down . And the reason we say it in our church plan every week is because and I actually explain to people I'll say , because you this week may feel you're in hell and that no way God's going to be able to reach you and you're like I can't come to church or I can't be part of this because I'm too far away and I've got to fix it . It's like , no , he went to the deepest depths of hell In order that , no matter how , you'll never be as far out into the darkness as he's already been , because he wants to anyone who calls to him he can reach . That's the danger of all this . As soon as we believe I've earned it , then you will . That may be good , and when you're on a good day , you might not realise the danger of that . What about on your bad day ?
Speaker 1Now , you won't feel he can reach you . It takes you to some dark places . Yes , Dwayne . Chapter nine , Moses reminds the people about the golden calf that they built there at Mount Sinai
The Danger of Prosperity and Pride
Speaker 1. Why was the worship of the golden calf ?
Speaker 3so bad ? I think one of the things for me is the obvious thing is they've created an idol . I think the scary thing is actually when you read it . In Exodus it says they actually called it Jehovah , the one that brought us out of Egypt , and I think the simple significance of it is you are making something else , god . It's so bad because they actually made the calf God . They actually proclaimed all of the things that God had done for them and gave all of that honor and glory to this golden calf . And you know , it says can this calf save you ? Can this thing do anything ? They make wooden idols and you see , throughout the history it continues to happen and there's all of these different things that they proclaim as God and none of the things can save them .
Speaker 3And the problem is , in today's day and age , it's so much more subtle because we look at the Israelites . Come on , let's be real , we all judge them . We're like , come on , man , this is crazy . And we're like , come on , man , this is crazy . But it's like how can you worship this iPad ? But it's like , subconsciously , this iPad has become a god . If I drop this on the floor right now and it cracks , I'm like , oh my gosh , you know God can't provide . I don't know my iPad . It costs so much . But it's actually like I've made this a god as soon as I've put it in the position of God .
Speaker 3And so many times in our lives , the reason that it's so bad with a golden calf because that's a blatant , obvious one , but it's so subtly happens in our lives . It's the simple ones . It could be your children , it could be your spouse , it could be your job , it can be anything . And it's so subtle and you can even think that God still has that position . But the reality is this when you turn around and you're like this job has rescued me and my family from from debt , you know this job has done this , this woman has restored me and you're like , no , you've now made this person , this job , this thing , jehovah . And that's the danger . That's why it's so bad , because they actually said this is Jehovah who has taken us out of Egypt . And you're like , no , it's not . And that's why it's so bad , because they actually said this is jehovah who has taken us out of egypt .
Speaker 4and you're like no , it's not , and that's why they're searching the bible . Remember , remember what god has done . Remind yourself because you'll forget . Yeah , it's so easy to forget .
Speaker 1Remember remember frightening thing in the bible is tells us we become like , whatever it is we worship we can't hear eyes , but we can't sense Eyes , but we can't .
Speaker 2It desensitises us , doesn't it we ?
Speaker 1become senseless things ourselves . So , you know time's almost gone , but very briefly , chapter 9 , verses 25 to 29, . Moses tells the people about how he prayed for them after they had worshipped the calf , how he intercedes for them with the Lord . What can we learn about prayer from these verses ?
Speaker 4I think it's just amazing in terms of how Moses stands in the gap with the people . They've done a terrible sin . They've been awful in the way that they've just blasphemed against God , and when he prays to God , he reminds God of his own promises . He's audacious enough to say this is the God that you are , this is the God of what you've done . You can't give up on your people now , on all that's happened . He intercedes , he stands in the gap for them and he just , he tells God who he is and what he's done , and he stands in the sense of he even says you know , blot me out if that's the case , but he wants , he loves his people so much , even though they are so stupid and so sinful . It's very powerful , isn't it ?
Speaker 2And it's just the promise , always that promises . He's like I've sinned loads , but you have promised this . And it's always those going back to the things that the Lord has promised , because if we focus only on our sins we'll say there's no hope . But then we go . No , but this is the Lord who has promised that if we call on his name he will rescue us . And he goes back to Lord , you promised this , you promised this , and they're your people that you've rescued . So he kind of pulls the Lord back to his own words . It's the audacity , and the Lord likes to be held to his own words , doesn't he ?
Speaker 3Yeah , it says that the Lord says he spoke to Moses as a friend . You can see that the relationship builds and he has that . That's right . It's less of an audacity and more of a confidence . It's a humble confidence .
Speaker 4It's not an arrogance , it's a humble confidence . Absolutely . That's a real friendship isn't it , you can say what's on your mind and you can battle it back and forth , and that's what he's doing here . A great inspiration to us in prayer when we pray , to be open and honest with God and tell him what you really think and not to hide our anger , our frustration , our confusion
The Golden Calf: Modern Idolatry
Speaker 4as it were .
Speaker 1Yeah , wonderful , moses stands in the gap there , intercedes with the Lord , with the promises that God wants him to take hold of . He's given him those promises so he can hold the Lord to them , as it were . Well , that's a great place to stop . Thank you so much today . Thanks , duane , paul Sunil , thank you for our time together . Our key truth today is this If the Lord , god , is not our passion , then our passions will be our God .
Speaker 1Martin Luther , the German reformer of the 16th century , said in his teaching on the Ten Commandments whatever your heart clings to , that is your idol . Or , as a friend of mine says , your idol is whatever you find yourself daydreaming about all the time . As Duane said , we have to be disciplined with those thoughts that come into our heads and hearts all the time , treating them , I think , like the emails that drop into our inboxes . We recognise some of them as dangerous , so we just delete them without even opening them . Others we open and pay attention to because we know who they're from and we trust them . And we have to do the same with our thoughts . Some thoughts can take us to very dark places , so we must cut them off as soon as we recognize them .
Speaker 1On the other hand , we want to
Key Truth: Recognizing Our True Passion
Speaker 1fill our hearts and minds with God's words and God's thoughts , because we trust him and we know that he's not out to harm us . If he tells us to do something , it's for our good . If the Lord God is not our passion , then our passions will be our God . Lord , we want you to be our passion Out of your glorious riches . Strengthen us with power through your spirit in our inner being , so that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith . Amen . That's it for Book by Book today . Thank you for sharing in our time together . Join us again for our next study in Deuteronomy . God bless you and goodbye .
