Deep Idols
Transcript
We'll be in Ezekiel chapter 14. We are in the fourth week of our series looking at and studying idolatry and kind of what the Bible has to say about that and how that plays out in our lives. Ezekiel is kind of in the middle. Maybe to the right, page 454 if you've got one of our Bibles. If you don't have a Bible with you, we actually just hold your hand up. We'll grab one for you.
Aubrey will hand you one real quick. So if anybody need one, we've got some right back there. Okay, so we're in the fourth week. We've been doing this for three weeks now. How are we doing? We've been talking for the past four weeks about idolatry, kind of looking at what Scripture says about idolatry.
Are we beginning to see that in our own lives? Are we changing? Are we walking that out with community? Are we just hearing things, learning things, and not allowing it to affect us? So we got together on our first week of this series, and we talked through that God is the only God, and that we actually would want Him to be God, that it's actually best for us if He is God.
The next week we talked about how we'll take good things and turn them into God things, and then that becomes a very bad thing when we actually put that weight on something that is not God and how we'll take things that He gave us to enjoy, meant to be enjoyed, and we'll treat them as if they are God. We spent last week talking about broken cisterns. Basically what happens when we do that, how we have to work really hard to prop up our made-up God, and then ultimately we either crush it or it destroys us, and that God is the fountain of living water that brings us life. So my question is, are we seeing areas in our lives that we've placed too much weight on, that we've begun to take something good and care too much about it?
Are we looking at, are we walking that out in community? Are we doing that, or are we just hearing things, learning things, talking about things? So hopefully we are in relationships kind of walking this out and growing in the gospel. That would be the hope. That's why we do this. That's why we walk things out in church families.
So what we've been addressing, though, is that idolatry is the worship of anything other than God. So we've talked about how we often think of sin as breaking God's rules, but that we don't first break rules until we have first decided to worship something, to give more importance, more value to something other than God. So when we talk about Adam and Eve in the garden, God created them in a perfect relationship with himself. They kept it together for really like half a chapter because part of that they weren't even made yet. So it kind of tells the story twice.
So maybe if you add up both half chapters, they got a whole chapter of the Bible where humans had it together. So just so you know, if your life looks like that, lots and lots of chapters. If you're messing it up and half a chapter of it is good, that's how humans look in the Bible. So you're on pace with the rest of us. But they ate from the tree they were not supposed to eat from.
And so they certainly broke a rule. But first, their value system changed. Prior to breaking the rule that God had given them, they first decided that they wanted to elevate themselves, that they were more important. And so they swapped God out for themselves, and then they broke a rule. And so that's what we've been talking about. The sin is not primarily us breaking rules.
That when you look at the Ten Commandments, we don't break any of the other ones until we've broken the first one, which says, you will have no other gods before me. So that's what we've been talking about. What we're going to talk about tonight is heart-level idolatry. And that's what we're going to be looking at in Ezekiel. So I'm going to pray, and then we're going to hop in.
God, we thank you for your grace. We ask you to show up in a very real way tonight. We love you, and you are good. Speak to us through your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Some of what we're going to be talking about tonight, I think, has previously been said better, or as my English 4 teacher would say in high school, more better.
She told us one time, y'all got to start doing more better on these tests. And I was like, I don't think we've got much of a chance. But there's a guy named Tim Keller that we've stolen some of these ideas from. He unpacks idolatry very well as it applies to us in American culture. And so I would recommend the book Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller. If you're interested, if you've been kind of growing and understanding this, idolatry as we walk through it, Tim Keller says things really well.
Some of what we'll talk about tonight is stuff that, like I said, I think Tim Keller has said previously, more articulately and smarter-y. That's one thing Presbyterians have going for them. They're usually pretty smart. They have a lot they have to go through to be a Presbyterian minister. Other denominations and that sort of thing, they're like, can you read? Kind of.
All right, go at it, boy. You want to yell at people about Jesus? Yes. All right, you're in. So Ezekiel chapter 14, verse 1.
Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. Okay, so Ezekiel is a prophet. He's writing this down. This is stuff that happened. So when he says they came before me, that's Ezekiel.
He's a prophet. They are in Babylon at this time. So they are in the Babylonian captivity, which means that they had been in Israel and the Babylonians had come down and snatched up a bunch of them, the king and other high-ranking people, and took them back to Babylon. And the reason that happened was because in the Old Testament, God set up the nation of Israel as his people, and as long as they were worshiping him as God, he defended them. He protected them. And so people would show up and be like, we're going to conquer you.
And they'd be like, no, because you don't know who God is, and that's going to go really poorly for you, so you might want to go home. And they would be like, yeah, right, and then God would just crush people. And then whenever they would begin to make alliances with other countries, begin to trust more in Egypt than in God, begin to trust more in other gods than in God, God would basically just say, okay, sure, if you want to pray to gods that don't exist, pray to them when people show up to capture you. And so God would lead the Israelites into captivity basically to train them, basically to show them that the gods they were trusting in, the alliances they were making, the things they were letting their heart chase after were really bad for them.
And ultimately weren't going to bring them joy and satisfaction, so he would allow them to go into captivity so that he could bring them back to himself. He actually may be doing that with some of us right now. In his grace, he may be identifying in our hearts areas of idolatry and sin that we've begun to place too much importance on something that is not him and that ultimately will not satisfy, and it's actually very loving and good for him to do that. It's the worst. Don't get me wrong. It's horrible and not enjoyable at all, but it's very, very good for us.
He's been doing that with me. It's not fun going behind the woodshed of grace, but it's very, very good for us. And so as he identifies idolatry and areas in our heart that we kind of get off, that we begin to drift, it's actually him being good to us. And that's kind of the situation they're in right now. So it says, Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.
Elders of Israel would have been the chief leaders of the Israelite people in Babylon at this point. So chief leaders come and sit before Ezekiel, came and sat before me, and the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Stop right there. All right.
Leaders of Israel come and sit before God, come and sit before Ezekiel to have Ezekiel ask God something for him. Basically like, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to lead? What do we need to do? And what God says is, their idols are not visible. They've set them up in their hearts.
So these were Israelite leaders. They were not bowing down to other gods. They were not worshiping and chasing after other gods. If they were, it would have been obvious. When they showed up, Ezekiel would have just been like, hey, why don't y'all get rid of the idols you have in your house? Why don't you get rid of the totem poles and the asherahs?
And why don't you get rid of your Baal idol worshiping things? But they don't. They show up, seem like they've got it all together, and God says, their idols have been set up in their hearts. That's very scary for us. What that means is, that we can be walking through life, functionally looking like Jesus is our God, functionally being a part of church family, functionally looking like God is our God, but actually, at a heart level, be in love with and chasing after and worshiping something else. And so he says, the idols that they have have been set up in their hearts.
Therefore, speak to them, verse 4, Therefore, speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Anyone of the house of Israel, who takes his idols into his heart, and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I, the Lord, will answer him, as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, Repent, and turn away from your idols. Repent means confess and change. It means actually turn away from.
So don't just say, Oh, this is an idol I have in my life, but actually turn away from it. Repent, and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations, for any one of the house of Israel, or the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart, and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I, the Lord, will answer him myself. What he says is, they come to talk to you, I'm going to talk to them. I'm not going to speak to you and let you talk to them.
I'm going to speak to each one of them individually, as it comes to the idols that they've set up in their heart. What we're going to do, is we're going to pray, and ask this same God, to do the same thing for us tonight. He promised to do it for the people of Israel, we're going to ask him to do it for us tonight. So, all of us in here who are believers, I would like for you, because it is his grace and his goodness towards us, to show this to us, I would like for you to ask God to show you areas in your heart, that you've begun to place too much weight, too much value, that you've begun to put some hope in, put some worth in, get validation from, that is inordinate and not appropriate, areas that you've taken idols into your heart.
So, I want you to ask him, and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal that to us. If you're in here tonight, and you're not a believer, and you're just hanging out, and checking out this whole Jesus thing, I would ask you to do the same thing, to ask God to reveal to you, where there may be areas in your life, that you're pursuing something, that's not going to satisfy you, because he says that he's going to do this, so that he may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel. That's what we want. And if you're in here tonight, and you don't know Jesus, ask him to do that. Here's the thing, this is the trade off, if you don't know Jesus.
If he's real, it's on him to show that to you. Like, if Shakespeare is going to meet Romeo, Shakespeare's got to do that. Okay? Think about it a little while, that makes sense. Okay? So, that's on God to reveal himself.
So, if he's real, then cool, you're talking to the creator of the universe, and it's actually very good for you to meet him, because if he's real, this is true, and you need to know it. If he's not real, you just fired off some chemicals in your brain, for no reason whatsoever, and that's not a huge waste. So, think some thoughts. If he's not real, no harm, no foul, if he is real, you might actually get to encounter the living God, and that would be really cool. So, everybody though, we're going to pray this together, that God would reveal this to us, that he would speak to us. So, I'm going to pray, but let's, we'll be quiet for a second, y'all can pray, and then I'll pray.
God, you promised your people many years ago, that you would reveal their idols to them, and we as your church, ask you to do the same for us. That you show us in areas in our hearts, where we've begun to seek validation, where we've begun to console ourselves, where we've begun to seek worth, and God, we ask that through your Holy Spirit, you would lay hold of our hearts, that they might be solely yours, because in that, there's freedom, and there's life, and there's joy. So, speak directly to us tonight. God, I pray that there's some people in here, who don't hear a word of anything else I say, because you are dealing with them.
That's far better. And we love you in Jesus' name, and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so, what God is saying here, is that we can functionally, at a heart level, have something that we pursue, and it alters, how we walk through life. So that these men, looked like they had everything together, but they had, at a heart level, at a deep level, idolatry, set up.
What that means for us, is that, idolatry is always, the sin beneath the sin. So that it's always, idolatry, prior to us, sinning in any other way. So when we think about, our sin, a lot of times, it's not, that we have a problem with lying, or that we have an issue with money, or that we have an issue with, with relationships. It's actually something deeper, something at a heart level, that's driving that. So that a lot of times, money and relationships, and all of the manipulation, and stuff that we do, is actually the object, not the operator.
The operator is what's driving, that. So that's what we're trying, to unpack tonight, and I'm going to try, to give us some different ways, to think about that, so that we can begin, to see that in ourselves. The other thing, that that means, is that if it's at a heart level, that means that, behavioral change, will not solve the issue. It means that, adjusting how you look, how you act, how you behave, is not going to fix the problem, if it's a heart level issue. I'll give you an example, of how this plays out, and how this can be the operator, not the object. Matt and I, have been friends for a long time, we roomed together in college, which some of that was cool, and some of that was not.
I like my roommate better now, her name is Anna, she's way better, of a roommate. I think Matt, likes his roommate better now, as well. But we roomed together in college, we got to know each other, and then there was a while, where we weren't around each other, and then we moved back down, and moved to this area about, I don't know, a year and a half, two years ago, something like that, and started working on, on being a part of this church plant together, and what's cool is, we've gotten to kind of, be friends again, in a different way, and you get, you get around each other, you work for a while together, and you start realizing, man, you're kind of messed up. Like that's kind of what you realize, the more you're around people.
That's actually why we, walk out, church family, in community groups, because the truth is, you can't help somebody, walk closer to Jesus, unless you're around them. You just can't do it. Like how am I going to know, whether you're pursuing Jesus, if I'm never around you, and your spouse? How am I going to know, if you're pursuing Jesus, if I never see you, with your roommates? If I never see how you handle stress? I mean how am I going to know?
I'm going to tell you something. I can fake being really, really good for an hour on Sunday. That's easy. But you hang out with me, for a long period of time, you're going to realize, man this guy is sinful, and he needs Jesus. And that's why we walk out, community, in life, in normal everyday life, doing normal everyday things together, as Jesus' people. But as Matt and I have gotten to do that, what we realize is that we both lie, periodically, and we shouldn't, but we do.
And it happens in quick, kind of circumstances. And so what will happen is, let me tell you how, this is how Matt lies. I was talking to him about it the other day. I'm going to confess his sin first, and then we'll focus more on me. Matt will do this. Matt loves being early to places.
It's his favorite. It's the worst, but he loves it. So he loves being really early to places. It makes him way more comfortable, in just life in general. He wants to be early, kind of allows him to, take a deep breath, know everything's going to be okay. I do not operate that way, but we go to the same places a lot, to meet with people, and do different things.
And so it doesn't make any sense, for both of us to drive our trucks, which get like, 12 miles to the gallon, or something. And so we end up riding together a lot, and so what Matt will do, is he tricks me, and I just recently discovered, this took like a year and a half, so you can see how quick I am on things. What he does is this, he wants to be there like an hour and a half early, but he knows there's no way, I'm going to sit in a parking lot with him, for an hour and a half, before we have to meet with somebody. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it's early guys, so he really wants to leave way early, to like change two tires on the way, I don't know what he's wanting to do.
So what he'll do, is he will tell me about 15 minutes earlier, than he knows I am willing, like would want to be. So like if we wanted to leave at 3, he'll tell me 2.45, if I wanted to leave at 3, because he actually wants to leave at like 2.30. And then what he does, is he shows up early to leave. He knows the entire time, that he's going to show up 10 minutes early, to my house to pick me up. And he's like, I'm just early, oops. So he'll tell me he's going to be somewhere, sometime, and it's intentionally 15 minutes later, then he knows he's coming.
And I recently was like, man, you're kind of lying to me, aren't you? And he's like, yeah, that's not right. He didn't realize he was doing it. And then I, he's called me out on this, I didn't realize I would do this, but I forget things, all the time. I'm the worst at it. So what I do, is somebody asks me, hey man, did you do that?
Or Matt will ask me, hey, did you do this? Because Matt remembers everything. Hey man, have you gotten this done yet? And I'll go, oh, I'm going to do that tomorrow. All that means is, I have completely forgotten about this. And if I remember, I'll do that tomorrow.
So I just act like I scheduled it for the next day. Oh yeah, I was going to get up early and do that tomorrow. Now I'm going to have to get up earlier than I had planned, because I've got to do that tomorrow. That's how that works. So what I should say is, I completely forgot, and I will now get that done.
But I don't want to say that, because the truth is, I want people to think I'm awesome. That's really one of my major goals in life. See, Matt and I are both lying, but we're lying for completely different reasons. Matt is just pursuing some comfort, some level of ease in life. And so, since I would never do that, I feel really superior to him when he does that. I'm like, how on earth could you lie like that?
What a jerk. And then when I lie, Matt remembers everything, so he feels superior to me in two ways. One, he would remember, and second of all, he wouldn't lie about it. And so he gets to feel really superior too, but the truth is, we're just lying for different reasons, and we're defending different things. I just want people to think I have my stuff together. I just want people to think I'm awesome.
I could care less whether they like me. So somebody's like, man, that guy's a total jerk. Well, whatever. That guy's really stupid. What? No, I'm not.
I'm smart. Like, I will defend you thinking I'm great. I don't care whether or not you actually like me. We are lying, and we can go after lying. We can go after the behavior, and we can say, we need to stop lying. We shouldn't lie.
But the truth is, until we change what's underneath that, we won't actually fix the problem. We won't actually root out what is there, because we have heart level issues, things that our actions are pursuing, that are a bigger deal. So what we're about to do, is we're going to walk through four, kind of broad, major categories, to just help us get a lens for this. To help us get a lens for, sin beneath the sin, what actually might be driving us, to get a look at the operator, not the object. Then I'll try to unpack it some, with some, we'll talk about money, and I'll give us some other examples, to kind of show how this plays out in life.
Here's what I want though. Don't argue with the categories, when we go through these four things. Don't get derailed, in trying to blend them together, or be like, I feel like these are the same, like just don't do that. The reason is, they're made up. So it's really not worth it.
Like I'm as willing to argue with you, about these categories, as I am about breeds of unicorns. I'm just not going to do it. Like you want to talk about, Irish stompers and palominos, because it's like, they don't exist. So you can argue all you want to about them. So this is just to give us a helpful lens.
Okay? So just track with me, walk with me through this. It's just to help us see this. So the first one we're going to talk about, is power. So if you had power, as you're operating idolatry, as something to sin beneath the sin, what that would mean, is you would say something, along the lines of, life has meaning and purpose, if I have success, if I have influence, if I win.
If I'm on top, that's how life has meaning and purpose. Your worst nightmare would be humiliation. Because your ultimate goal, is to have people think you're great. To be powerful in life, however you define that. And so, your worst nightmare would be, to have people look at you and think, man, this person doesn't have their life together. They are the worst at this.
They are terrible. They have blown this. They've failed. People around you feel used, because they're just objects, in your ability to have power. And your problem of motion is anger. I will also let you know, as we walk through this, just to be helpful to you, if it's not one you deal with, you will think, man, that's the worst.
Just so you know, you'll be like, oh my goodness, how could anybody be like that, until we get to the one that you deal with, and then you're like, well, that one seems reasonable. Just so you are aware, when I interact with some of the other ones, I'm like, that's really stupid for you to care about that. And then we get into my area, and I'm like, no, this is smart. This is what you should pursue. This is why everyone wants to win. So, okay, power, approval is the next one, just kind of a broad category, to help us have, life has meaning and purpose.
If I have affirmation, if I have relationships, if I feel loved. That's how I know that life is okay. Okay, worst nightmare is rejection. To have people not want you around, not care about you, to think very little of you. People around you feel smothered, because you need them to love you. And your problem with emotion is cowardice.
You would rather lie to someone's face, than hurt their feelings, and say some true things they probably need to hear. So, you will, people ask you questions, and you'll bend the truth, and you'll do some different things, because you really just don't ever want to get into a conflict. You'll let people walk all over you, when they shouldn't be, when it's actually appropriate for you to, to engage them in that. But, that's because you want their approval. Comfort. Life has meaning and purpose, if I have freedom, and privacy, and no stress.
Like, I just don't have to worry about things. So, your worst nightmare is stress and demands. Some of the other areas of idolatry, actually feed off of stress and demands, and appreciate it, and enjoy it. It destroys you. Stress stresses you out. It's like you get multiply, overly stressful, because something's stressing you.
People around you feel neglected, because you really just kind of want to be to yourself. So, you're not checking up on people, you don't care too much about how things are going on with them. The majority of the time, you're kind of withdrawn. And, your problem of emotion is apathy. It's just really hard to get you to care about things. The last one is control.
Life has meaning and purpose, if I have discipline, self-discipline, if I have certainty, and if I have standards, if I know how things are going to operate. Your worst nightmare is uncertainty. So, having a situation that's not going to work out, that's all you can think about. You don't know how this is going to end up, at the end of the month. You don't know how this is going to work out, at the end of the week. You don't know how this conversation is going to go.
You have no control over how you're going to pay this bill, and it drives you crazy. People around you can feel unloved, because you don't care so much about them, as much as you care about how they're fitting into your system. And your problem of emotion is worry. You just, you worry about a lot of things, because anything that brings uncertainty, brings worry. Okay, that's just to give us a lens. Let me, let me explain how that operates.
We would look at certain people in life, and we would say, man, they're idle. What they chase after, what they love, is money. They love money. Maybe. Most likely, they love what money gives them. And the reason I say that is, because if money was just green and folded, people wouldn't care about it.
It's actually what money does, that we appreciate. Nobody, gets amped up about monopoly money. None of you have a bank account, that just has monopoly money in it. None of you keep that at your house, hidden somewhere. Because monopoly money, doesn't do anything for you. The only time you care about monopoly money, is the seven hours you're playing that game.
I don't even know how you win monopoly. I always, it just ends when someone flips over the board, and yells at their grandmother. I'm pretty sure that's how monopoly ends. And then you're not allowed to play it again, for like three years or something. And it's a good three years spent. Like it was enjoyable, to not have to play that game again, for three years.
But nobody cares about monopoly money. If money was just green paper that folded, we wouldn't care about it. So what we would say is, man, this person's idol is money. But the truth is, it's probably more likely, one of those four things, or something else, that money gives them. Let me explain how this works. Since your operator may be power, or comfort, the object becomes money.
Because money is a really good way, to get your idol. So if, if power, we're going to go through all of them. So power is the one we started off with. If your idol is power, money, does that really well. It gives you influence. Political candidates listen to you.
You get to be in the important rooms, because you have wealth. It goes before you, as little soldiers, that conquer the world for you. There's actually a guy on Shark Tank, that says that, every one of his dollars, is a soldier, that goes out, and recruits more soldiers for him. But see, it is, it's just a great way, to get power. So it's not that you love money, it's that you love power, but money is a really good way, to get it.
To have influence, and to win. It's also a tangible reminder, of your winning. If you're in business, and you're making more money, you're winning. And that money, is the scoreboard for you. If it is approval, money is a great way, to get approval. You buy me a pizza, I approve of you.
That's how that works. You give me things, I like this guy. This guy, with the wallet, this is great. But it really is, it's a great way, to have friends, to be able to, to feel loved, by pouring that out, on other people. So, it's even, you know, the grandmother, who always gives the best gifts. That may be, because she's very generous, and she loves her grandkids.
It also may be, because it's a great way, to get approval from. To have them over, to have them be a part of things. Comfort, money, is a pad, to life. Comfort, you don't want stress, you don't want people bothering you. Buy a lot of land, and put a fence around it. It's great.
You want privacy? Privacy fence. It's wonderful. You can pay people, to stand there, and keep other people out, if you have enough money. But, for us, it's more like, buying a really nice couch, and getting to go on vacation. It just buys us comfort.
We don't have to worry, about stress and demands, if we have enough money. But ultimately, money is just serving, our need for comfort. And, the last one, control. There's not a whole lot, of uncertainty, if you have enough Numbers, in your bank account. What's going to happen next year? I don't know.
I got cash. What's going to happen, if you lose your job? Cash. How are you going to handle this, if your car breaks down? Cash monies. There's not a lot of uncertainty, and so, some people, they look like, they're really good with money.
Serving their God of control. You can actually have, a marriage relationship, where they argue, all the time about money, and the wife, let's say, is always, so you sit down with these people, and he's like, look, all she wants to do, is spend money. She wants to buy things for herself, she wants to go on vacation, she wants to eat out all the time, we never cook at home, she just, all the time. And it's wasteful, and it's ridiculous, and I need, we need to save money, and we need to have enough money, in our bank account. Truth is, that may be a wise decision, but he may be, being just as selfish, with every dollar, he puts in a bank account, because it's serving his idol, of control, as she is, every time she spends it, on her idol, of comfort or approval.
Now, biblically, does it make more sense, to save money, than to spend it on everything? Yes. But it may be, just as idolatrous. So, a lot of times, the object, the surface level thing, we can see, is just that. It's an object, but it's not the operator. It's not the heart level issue, we have.
So we can step in, and change the behavior, and never root out, the heart issue. Never have, our holy God, step in, and lay hold, of our heart. Which is what he says, he's going to do, in Ezekiel. So you can have someone, that has a power idolatry, and in high school, the best way to do that, is to play sports, and be really good at them. So in high school, pour themselves into sports.
Very good athlete. And you would look and say, oh, that is idol of sports. Then he gets to college, and he's not as good, an athlete in college. But he's really good, at chasing women. And that's a good way, to exert power. And so he quits, playing sports.
And he starts chasing women. And you say, hmm, his idol is women. It's just the best way, to chase after power. Then maybe he, enters into politics. He gets into, to realm of thought, and he ends up, chasing power that way. So he quits chasing women, because that will get you, in trouble in politics, for the most part.
And he starts, going into politics. At some point, this guy, chasing after his power idol, could enter into the church, and become a, quote unquote, Christian. And it'd actually, just be a really, really good way, to serve his power idolatry. Because Christians, are the only ones, who have truth. And now he's one of the, owners of truth. And in Bible studies, when you get around, in your community group, he's the guy, who has all the answers.
He's the one, who knows all the best theology. He's the one, who can shout anybody down, when it comes to, Bible vocabulary, and where to find things, the best. And the truth is, it's just because, it's a great way, to exert power. And he's never let Jesus, take hold of his heart. You could have a female, she's growing up through school, best way to get approval, make good grades, and obey her parents. Very obedient, very good student.
Gets to college, grades are still important, but man, getting guys to like you, is a great way, to get approval. So she starts having, she has to have a boyfriend, at all times. Because she has to have, someone there. Her parents are further away. She has to have someone there, who shows that she has worth. So that other people, can see that she has worth, because her value, comes from approval.
Then she eventually, gets married, and the best way, to get approval, is to be the best wife, and mother, and best soccer mom, and have the most, well kept house, and kids. And throughout life, things actually look, fairly normal for her. But the whole time, she's bending her life, and walking out her days, pursuing her idol, of approval. It's very important, that we dig down deep, and find our heart level issues, and allow Jesus, to replace them, and to take them away. So, let me explain, how we do this. How do we fix that?
If that's true, if we have heart level idolatry, if we can take idols, into our heart, how do we fix that? Okay, let's go back to lying. Let's go back to, mostly Matt, but sometimes me. when it comes to lying, I'm just kidding. What we could say is, so when I lie, I could say, I shouldn't lie. Bad Christian. Bad, bad pastor.
Like, you should not lie. Pastors shouldn't lie. I'm pretty sure, that's in the handbook, somewhere. And I'm not supposed, to do that. And what I could do, is say, what if someone found out? That's really horrible, for me to do.
What if someone found out? And all I'd be doing, is pressing on my own fear, and my own pride, to adjust my behavior. So fear is, what if someone found out? And pride is, I should be better than this. And so all I'm really doing, is increasing, idolatry in my heart, to adjust my behavior. And that actually, in the long run, is going to be a very big problem.
So all I'm doing is saying, prolonging, so I'm just, adding into my idolatry, which has to do with, power and approval. And I'm just prolonging that, and saying, on the long run, it's actually better not to lie, for your ultimate goal, of power and approval. So I'm building into fear and pride, to change my heart. This is actually how we train children a lot. You don't want to be like, those bad people do you? Pride.
You don't want to go to jail, like they do. Fear. And all we're doing, is increasing idolatry, in their heart, which eventually, will be a very big problem. Because we're taking the operator, to adjust the object, we're increasing this. And that's an issue for us. That's how that plays out.
Y'all remember, a couple years ago, when, Siegfried and Roy, one of them, we'll just say Siegfried, because his name's more fun to say. Which, Roy, that's great, that that matches with Siegfried. That's just, that's a great coupling of names there. Siegfried, and Roy. One of them got attacked, by their tiger. Y'all remember this?
Their big, white tiger, or whatever. And they were all surprised. And it's like, bro, that's a tiger. That's what they do. That's like, he's never attacked me before. Well, he's a tiger.
Like, that doesn't, he's a trained tiger. Yeah, but he's still a tiger. And what happens for us, when we build into our idolatry, to adjust our behavior. Yeah, we're just a trained tiger. We're just training ourselves, training ourselves, to have a bigger issue later. Tigers are always going to be a problem, because they're tigers.
If you want to own a pet, own a pet you can take. That's pretty much how that works. Like, maybe you need a stick, but, have y'all heard the, I saw a thing, a dude called 911, a cat had pinned him into it. Have y'all heard this? Oh, it's the best. A cat had pinned him, and his whole family into it.
He called 911, and was like, we got a cat. He said, it's a big, Malaysian, or I don't know cat names. Himalayan. It's a big Himalayan cat. The lady on the phone was like, okay, and he said, it's a big cat. How big is it?
He's like, I don't know, like 22 pounds. She beeps over and goes, because she's a 911 operator, she gets a hold of the police officer, and she's like, guy, I want y'all to come help him with a cat. Is that a thing you do? Like, because I could just tell him to deal with it, if you want me to. And the cops are like, no, I will do that. They ended up sending an animal controller, whatever.
But, but, so if you, if whatever level you can take, you know, that's the level you need to own, just for the record. This is just a helpful tip. This has nothing to do with what we're talking about. If you can't take a 22 pound cat, don't own one. Get like a hamster. All right.
But what happens for us, when we build into ourselves, that's all we're doing, we're training a tiger. And that's why people will say, I can't believe I did that horrible, horrible thing. I wasn't raised like that. I know better than that. And it's like, yeah, but you've been just feeding the tiger, and then when something came along that seemed worth it, you went for it. Because all you've been doing is feeding into your heart, your heart level idolatry to adjust your behavior.
And let me tell you something, when it comes along, and suddenly your heart level idolatry sees something big enough, your behavior is going to change. Okay. So why do we lie? Why do we constantly seek approval? Why are we greedy? The truth is, our hearts are off.
As we've been walking through this series, and we begin to see areas in our lives that it's like, I've placed too much weight there, our hearts are off. We have heart level issues. We said early on that the biggest issue is not that we sin, or not that we break rules, but that we first chase after something other than God is God. When the Old Testament says, you will have no other gods before me, Martin Luther actually says that that's the same as when the New Testament says, you shall trust in Jesus through faith for salvation alone. Do the exact same thing, that your justification will come by faith in Jesus alone.
Justification just means how you have worth before God. Faith in Jesus alone, and you will have no other gods before me, are actually the same thing. When we sin, yes, it's idolatry, it's also a failure to trust in and believe in the gospel. For Christians, when we sin, we are actually functionally at that point failing to believe the gospel. So sin is, first and foremost, idolatry, and for Christians, it's a failure to believe the gospel.
What that means is, we have to replace our heart level issues with the truth of the gospel, and that actually changes us. We have to replace what is real for us because of Jesus, to change our heart level problems. So, what happens is, idols don't rarely just disappear on their own. They're always replaced by something. So someone who, as we walk through life, is really just lazy, may suddenly cease to be lazy if they start placing a lot of value on sports.
And they may quit placing a lot of value on sports if they place a lot of value on making money. But the idol is just being swapped out. It's never just gone. That's what we've talked about. You will have something that you worship as God. All it means is that something has taken ascendancy, has risen to a greater place in our hearts every time we change from one aisle to the other.
Thomas Chalmers, born in 1780, he's a Scottish calf. He says it this way, the heart's desire for an ultimate object, which just means something as supreme, something to be worshipped. The heart's desire for an ultimate object may be conquered, but its desire to have some object is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power of a new one. And as Christians, the expulsive power of the gospel is what rids us of all heart-level idolatry. When the gospel becomes so true to us, that we don't need any of these other things, when the fact that Jesus Christ, who was God, lived on earth a perfect life on our behalf, and died in our place, took the nails, the lashes, was hung from a cross, bled out the death that we deserved, so that we might be reconnected to God.
Jesus, when he's praying, calls God Father every single time, except for one time. When he's on the cross, he calls him God. Now the Bible doesn't say this, but it would seem that the relationship that Jesus had with God, as his Father, was broken, so that we might actually have one with the Father. That we might actually be adopted, because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. That when he rose again three days later, he rose on our behalf to give us life. New life, real life, not pursuing smaller things, not chasing after stuff that won't satisfy, but life in him, that ultimately fulfills and gives us everything.
Only when that becomes real to us, are we able to replace the idols that we've set up in our hearts. Only when Jesus regains and reclaims his throne, are we able to dethrone everything else. All the would-be gods that have shuffled in, and taken up a residency in our hearts. Only through Jesus. Always through Jesus. What cannot be dispossessed, what cannot be gotten rid of, may be dispossessed, if we are able to have a new affection, and so the truth is, we'll walk through life chasing after new affection, after new affection, after new affection, until the one thing, Jesus, the one true God, replaces it forever, and takes up home where he ought to be.
So here's what we're going to do. We've been talking for four weeks. Next week is our last week, that we'll be talking through this. We're going to play some music now. We're not going to, the band's not going to come back up. We're just going to play some music, because we as a church family are going to respond to this.
We've set up over here, we've got clay discs and Sharpies. And as God, through the Holy Spirit, has begun to reveal to us tonight, and through the past four weeks, areas that we have placed too much hope, too much life, too much joy, too much faith, too much worth, begin to get our validation from. The things that we've set up as idols in our heart, what we're going to do is, we're going to grab a clay disc, and we're going to write it down on it. Because the truth is, if we have idols set up in our heart, we carry them with us everywhere. I just want us as a church family to be honest about it.
So we're going to write down, I'm going to grab one, I'm going to write down the things that God's begun to reveal to me, that I have placed too much value in, too much worth in, that I've begun to seek validation from, and place my hope in. And I'm going to prayerfully write that down, asking God the Holy Spirit to reveal to me what that is, and then I'm taking my disc with me. And I want us as a church family to carry these with us, so that we can see the weight of our idolatry. Because most of us don't have something set up at home, that we go back home and worship. But we do have something set up in our hearts, that we carry with us all the time.
And so I just want us to be honest about it. I want you to put them in your purses, I want you to put them in your pockets, I want us to sit them on our dashboards, I want us to make ourselves very aware, that this little thing that we've written down, affects how we live. I want to bring them with you, when you meet with your community group. You've brought it with you every time you've come so far, you might as well just have a representation in your pocket. And I want us to be very honest and open with Jesus, and with church family, about what it is we've been pursuing, what we've been hoping would give us life and joy and satisfaction.
And then, when Jesus lets us, we're going to break home. So I don't know what that's going to look like for us. We're going to, next week, we're just going to spend some time talking about Jesus. We're going to spend some time talking about how He fulfills the promises that our idols make to us. So we'll have an opportunity next Sunday to break them.
If Jesus meets you on Tuesday and tells you to break it, break it. But don't just break it because it's convenient. Don't just break it because it's getting on your nerves. Because we actually, by God's grace, want these gone from our hearts, not just from our dashboard. We actually, by God's grace, want Jesus at the throne of our lives, because that's where joy is found, and that's where hope is found, and that's where life is found. And we don't want to walk through life chasing after things that will not satisfy anyone.
We don't want a little God. We want a big God. A holy God. A righteous God. That actually brings life. So we're going to play some music.
As you pray, and as God reveals you, and if He leads you, go grab one. We've got plenty of Sharpies. Move around the room, and in a minute I'll call us back. Pray over us. And we'll be done for that. I'm going to pray now.
God, I pray that through Your Spirit, You would reveal to us the idols in our hearts, so that You, God, as You say in Ezekiel 14, 5, that You may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from You through their idols. God, may You lay hold of our hearts. May our hearts belong to You and You alone. Because God, in You is life and hope and freedom. We don't have to work really hard to prove our value because Jesus proved our value when He died for us and He gave us value. He assigned it to us.
I don't have to be successful. I don't have to prove my worth. I don't have to walk through life trying really hard to show the world that I deserve to be here. Jesus Christ gives us value and hope. So God, through Your Holy Spirit, work in us now.
Call Your people to repentance as You called Your people here. And may we change and may we draw closer to You and may we draw closer to each other as we grow in replacing the lies that we believe with the gospel. We love You, Lord. Amen. outros, amen.
Amen. on our behalf.
God, we thank You that You change us by Your grace and may Jesus get all the glory. Amen.