The Necessity of Destroying Idols

I agree with John Calvin when he says that “the human heart is a perpetual idol factory.” We see this reality everywhere—on the pages of Scripture, in the world around us, and, if we are honest, inside our own hearts. Though ironically, we often see it more clearly outside of ourselves than within, to our own embarrassment.

Idolatry is not limited to bowing down before carved statues. Idolatry is giving worship, devotion, or ultimate loyalty to anything other than the true and living God. And idolatry carries two devastating problems. First, it is an offence against our Creator, because we give to created things the honour, glory, dependence, and devotion that belong to Him alone. Second, idolatry deforms us. When we devote ourselves to lower things—false gods, demons, angels, nature, money, sex, comfort—we become less than what God made us to be. Idol worship slowly turns us into a sad parody of true humanity.

If we are to build true virtue, strong families, and healthy societies, we must have the triune God at the center. And we must have Jesus Christ—the second person of the Trinity, fully God and fully man—as the only mediator between God and humanity. There is no other path. Everything else collapses. And the issue is not merely having correct doctrine in our minds, but having lives aligned with that doctrine—lives fully devoted and submitted to the one true God.

And when I say God must be central, I do not mean that we may keep Him at the center while still holding on to some smaller, peripheral idols. No. If you worship the true God, He calls you to exclusive devotion. He calls you to destroy your idols. God’s demand for exclusivity means it is a logical impossibility to truly worship Him while your idols remain standing. Destroying idols is the ongoing work of every Christian.

But our responsibilities are not only personal—they are covenantal. Husbands are charged with destroying the idols of their homes. Pastors are charged with destroying the idols of Christ’s church. And gospel preaching is never complete without confronting the idols of the culture. A preacher who refuses to expose and tear down idols by the power of the Word is like a gardener scattering seed on uncultivated, hardened soil.

Some might argue that God alone prepares the soil—that the Spirit convicts of sin and truth. This is true. But what "means" does He use? The testimony of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, shows a consistent pattern: God sends prophetic voices who expose sin, call for repentance, and warn of coming judgment.

As John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ, so preaching today must both prepare the way—level the ground—and then build upon it. If you want to be a wise builder, constructing the right things upon the right foundation, you must follow the right pattern and the right sequence.

We must follow the Master Builder, Jesus Christ. He tears down what must be torn down and establishes what must be established. And as we join Him in the work of His Kingdom—whether in our own hearts, in our homes, or in the church—we ask Him for the courage to destroy every idol, and for the wisdom to build what is true, beautiful, and enduring.

May He grant us grace to wield the Word with clarity and conviction, breaking down every false god and planting what is righteous, so that Christ alone is exalted among us.

"See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." — Jeremiah 1:10

Nino Marques