Creekside Community Church
Love Your Neighbor - Sermon 4 - The Inhumanity of Idolatry
Creekside Community Church Love Your Neighbor September 23rd, 2018 Jeff Bruce, Lead Pastor
Locations & Times
Creekside Community Church
951 MacArthur Blvd, San Leandro, CA 94577, USA
Sunday 9:00 AM
1.Imaging Idols (Isaiah 6:8; Psalm 115:8)
2.Inflicting Injustice (Amos 5:4-5, 13)
For further thought and discussion:
Getting Started
1.What was helpful to you in this week’s sermon? What didn’t you understand?
2.Think of a time you copied some else’s behavior/mannerisms/speech. What did you do? What motivated you to do this?.
Getting Started
1.What was helpful to you in this week’s sermon? What didn’t you understand?
2.Think of a time you copied some else’s behavior/mannerisms/speech. What did you do? What motivated you to do this?.
Going Deeper
3.Jesus says that the message of the Old Testament “prophets” is summed up in the commands to love God and love one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:40). What do the prophets teach us about loving God, and loving one’s neighbor? How would you summarize their teaching?
4.Why were the Israelites tempted to chase after idols? What did they believe idols could provide? What does this teach us about the nature of idolatry? How is this relevant for us today?
5.The Old Testament prophets indict Israel for two major sins; idolatry (Isaiah 2:8; 29:16), and injustice (see Isaiah 5:7; 58:1-12). How are these two sins connected? How does the principle that “we become what we worship” (see Isaiah 6:8; Jeremiah 2:5; see also Romans 1:21-25) help us connect idolatry to injustice? Why does worshipping false gods inevitably lead to dehumanization?
Application:
6.Jeff gave a few diagnostic questions to help uncover idols in our hearts. Which of these was particularly helpful to you? Why?
7.Based on how you (mis)treat people, what might you be idolizing? Discuss this question as a group.
8.What’s one way you can apply this passage this week?
3.Jesus says that the message of the Old Testament “prophets” is summed up in the commands to love God and love one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:40). What do the prophets teach us about loving God, and loving one’s neighbor? How would you summarize their teaching?
4.Why were the Israelites tempted to chase after idols? What did they believe idols could provide? What does this teach us about the nature of idolatry? How is this relevant for us today?
5.The Old Testament prophets indict Israel for two major sins; idolatry (Isaiah 2:8; 29:16), and injustice (see Isaiah 5:7; 58:1-12). How are these two sins connected? How does the principle that “we become what we worship” (see Isaiah 6:8; Jeremiah 2:5; see also Romans 1:21-25) help us connect idolatry to injustice? Why does worshipping false gods inevitably lead to dehumanization?
Application:
6.Jeff gave a few diagnostic questions to help uncover idols in our hearts. Which of these was particularly helpful to you? Why?
7.Based on how you (mis)treat people, what might you be idolizing? Discuss this question as a group.
8.What’s one way you can apply this passage this week?