We can never stray from the central point of everything...
You and I are sinners. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We do not measure up to the holiness God requires. Not us in our worst, but we at our best are still not righteous enough for the favor and justification of God Almighty. So God in Christ makes a way. He imputes to us the righteousness of Christ. Your righteousness is inadequate, so if you could check off all those things on your box of what Christians do, the Bible still says your righteous deeds are as filthy rags to Him. So we're going to need a righteousness that goes well beyond our own
righteousness, and we get that in Jesus Christ.
Jesus gives to us His perfection. He gives to us His righteousness. Then on top of that, on the cross of Christ Jesus takes from us the wrath of God due us for our rebellion against Him. So you have imputed righteousness, wrath-absorbing death, and in the resurrection we see the great exchange is complete. Here is the most spectacular part of it all: You didn't do anything to get that. So God saved you. God rescued you. God opened up your heart. God revealed this to you. You played no part in your salvation except glad submission.
http://theresurgence.com/2012/08/14/why-the-gospel-is-offensive
"The gospel is not that Jesus Christ
comes to earth, tells us how to live, we live a good life, and then God
owes us blessing. The gospel is that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived
the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died." - Tim Keller
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The Infinite Becomes Intimate
I borrowed a phrase from last Sunday's sermon at The Journey because it is perfectly said. Last night, I was listening to this song and it brought tears to my eyes though I have heard it many times...
I think we are sometimes so focused on our faith, on our sin, on our struggles, on our needs, on our response to God, that we fail to see things from God's perspective. It is true that God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours and there will always be an inability for a finite sinner to grasp the infinite holiness of God. But God shares His heart with us through His word. We get glimpses of His purity, power, goodness, justice, mercy and grace.
So, take what you know about God from the Bible and immerse yourself in how He must see you and think of you in order to do what He has done for you. When I do that, all the other stuff fades into the background and I am left with a perfect Father in heaven who came to rescue me at a cost to Himself that I can never comprehend.
He gave everything. He did everything. There is no price He did not pay. It is finished.
And this is the sermon I referenced earlier. It is one of the best sermons I have heard on who God is and what He has done for us.
I think we are sometimes so focused on our faith, on our sin, on our struggles, on our needs, on our response to God, that we fail to see things from God's perspective. It is true that God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours and there will always be an inability for a finite sinner to grasp the infinite holiness of God. But God shares His heart with us through His word. We get glimpses of His purity, power, goodness, justice, mercy and grace.
So, take what you know about God from the Bible and immerse yourself in how He must see you and think of you in order to do what He has done for you. When I do that, all the other stuff fades into the background and I am left with a perfect Father in heaven who came to rescue me at a cost to Himself that I can never comprehend.
He gave everything. He did everything. There is no price He did not pay. It is finished.
And this is the sermon I referenced earlier. It is one of the best sermons I have heard on who God is and what He has done for us.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Subtle Idolatry
"Wanting forgiveness of sins is idolatry if we don't want it as a means to enjoying God." - John Piper
“Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols.” – John Calvin
"Unless it is Him, that which we long for more than anything else will not satisfy. It will only enslave and disappoint." - Eric Geiger
"It is possible to avoid Jesus as Savior as much by keeping all the biblical rules as by breaking them." - Tim Keller
I wrote on deeper idols about a year ago and it is worth revisiting before reading this post:
http://thisoughtabegood.blogspot.com/2011/07/idolatry.html
So, I mentioned in my most recent post (Idolatry Part 2) that God is continuing to show me the idols in my life. Some have been easier to see than others. As the Spirit reveals and convicts me on my more obvious idols, introspection continues into what is yet deeper and ultimately at the root of all my idolatry.
I mean...if you are Christian, does it not simply boggle your mind that, regardless of your age or the amount of time you have called Jesus your Savior, you continue to choose things over Him? You continue to place your trust in yourself instead of Him? You continue to doubt that what He has planned for you is better than your own ideas?
It does boggle my mind. It gnaws at me. What is it that I am not believing? Why am I not fully trusting? Do I not truly grasp Jesus' death and resurrection? Do I not comprehend that every breath I take and every involuntary beat of my heart is a constant reminder of mercy and grace? Or is it that I am not fully satisfied with the way my life has gone or what happened yesterday or a disappointing experience just moments ago? Am I still clinging to my ideals rather than what God has made real?
From John Eldredge's "Beautiful Outlaw" (page 79)...
Late into the night, early in the morning, walking down the road, in the middle of his supper, at home, abroad, Jesus offers. His time, his words, his touch, flowing like the wine at Cana. To appreciate the reality of it all, remember, this is not Superman. Remember his loneliness, his weariness, his humanity. This is utterly remarkable - particularly in light of the fact that this is a man on a life-or-death mission. He is lavish with himself.
And that's the key, right there - that giving of himself. That is what is so precious. Moses offered leadership, and tirelessly. Solomon handed out the rarest of wisdom free of charge. Pilate seemed willing to toss to the crowds anyone they wanted. But Jesus gives himself. That is, after all, what he came to give, and what we most desperately need.
What do we most desperately need? Jesus. That's it. Yes, we need other things - provision, love, purpose, rest. But they all start and end with Jesus. Any of those things separated from the One who made us will offer no fulfillment, no peace, no hope.
Oh, but we have become adept at pretending that they can offer what we need. We can pretend to the point of addiction (that blog is coming next). But why do we pretend when deep down we know that only God can truly satisfy? I can only believe that it is pride...that desire to elevate ourselves above our Creator that ushered sin into the world and haunts us to this day. My desire to be the center of the story is unrelenting.
As I walked down the street to Whole Foods a few weeks ago, I found myself having an inner dialogue that is unfortunately not terribly uncommon. "Why have things gone the way they have? Why do I find myself single and struggling at 39 when life was all laid out for me to be successful on every level?" And then the Spirit intervenes and says, "You have God." You see, my sense of entitlement shows how quickly, how easily, my heart can replace God with myself. If you want to know whether or not you have made yourself the center of the story, just pay attention to how you react when someone treats you in a way that you don't think you deserve or when you feel taken for granted or when you aren't patted on the back for a job well done or when a driver cuts you off in heavy traffic. Even worse, what is your stance toward God when life doesn't go the way you want?
My first reaction, all too often, is to lash out because being the center of the story means that everyone and everything else, including God, exists to serve me. And when they aren't serving me, there is a big problem.
The idea that we exist to be served by others is not usually something of which we are truly aware. It is embedded deep down and has become such an integral part of the way we live and think that it is extremely difficult to isolate and decipher. The more I think about it, the more this is key to everything. We will always be miserable if our sense of entitlement continually puts demands on everyone around us that they were never meant to carry. We will always be disappointed if we put expectations of joy and fulfillment on our idols as they were never meant to bear that weight. The creation was made to point to the Creator but our greatest temptation is to stop our worship at the creation because to go one step further is to admit that it is not about us.
I have said it to many people. The idea that "it is not about us" is the most difficult lesson for any human being to earn. But once you see that there is greater joy from giving up yourself for the sake of God and others, your eyes begin opening up to the purpose for which we were created. All of the angst, frustration and despair we encounter in defending our "rights" starts to melt away. It is replaced with peace, gratitude and joy.
"Christianity is voluntary crucifixion." - Darrin Patrick
"There is nothing that makes you more miserable (or less interesting) than self-absorption." - Tim Keller
Why are you strivin these days?
Why are you tryin to earn grace?
Why are you cryin? Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you lookin for love?
Why are you still searchin as if I'm not enough?
To where will you go child?
Tell me where you will you run?
To where will you run?
Cause I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
So please don't fight
These hands that are holdin you
My hands are holdin you
http://sukofamily.org/?p=3048
“Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols.” – John Calvin
"Unless it is Him, that which we long for more than anything else will not satisfy. It will only enslave and disappoint." - Eric Geiger
"It is possible to avoid Jesus as Savior as much by keeping all the biblical rules as by breaking them." - Tim Keller
I wrote on deeper idols about a year ago and it is worth revisiting before reading this post:
http://thisoughtabegood.blogspot.com/2011/07/idolatry.html
So, I mentioned in my most recent post (Idolatry Part 2) that God is continuing to show me the idols in my life. Some have been easier to see than others. As the Spirit reveals and convicts me on my more obvious idols, introspection continues into what is yet deeper and ultimately at the root of all my idolatry.
I mean...if you are Christian, does it not simply boggle your mind that, regardless of your age or the amount of time you have called Jesus your Savior, you continue to choose things over Him? You continue to place your trust in yourself instead of Him? You continue to doubt that what He has planned for you is better than your own ideas?
It does boggle my mind. It gnaws at me. What is it that I am not believing? Why am I not fully trusting? Do I not truly grasp Jesus' death and resurrection? Do I not comprehend that every breath I take and every involuntary beat of my heart is a constant reminder of mercy and grace? Or is it that I am not fully satisfied with the way my life has gone or what happened yesterday or a disappointing experience just moments ago? Am I still clinging to my ideals rather than what God has made real?
From John Eldredge's "Beautiful Outlaw" (page 79)...
Late into the night, early in the morning, walking down the road, in the middle of his supper, at home, abroad, Jesus offers. His time, his words, his touch, flowing like the wine at Cana. To appreciate the reality of it all, remember, this is not Superman. Remember his loneliness, his weariness, his humanity. This is utterly remarkable - particularly in light of the fact that this is a man on a life-or-death mission. He is lavish with himself.
And that's the key, right there - that giving of himself. That is what is so precious. Moses offered leadership, and tirelessly. Solomon handed out the rarest of wisdom free of charge. Pilate seemed willing to toss to the crowds anyone they wanted. But Jesus gives himself. That is, after all, what he came to give, and what we most desperately need.
What do we most desperately need? Jesus. That's it. Yes, we need other things - provision, love, purpose, rest. But they all start and end with Jesus. Any of those things separated from the One who made us will offer no fulfillment, no peace, no hope.
Oh, but we have become adept at pretending that they can offer what we need. We can pretend to the point of addiction (that blog is coming next). But why do we pretend when deep down we know that only God can truly satisfy? I can only believe that it is pride...that desire to elevate ourselves above our Creator that ushered sin into the world and haunts us to this day. My desire to be the center of the story is unrelenting.
As I walked down the street to Whole Foods a few weeks ago, I found myself having an inner dialogue that is unfortunately not terribly uncommon. "Why have things gone the way they have? Why do I find myself single and struggling at 39 when life was all laid out for me to be successful on every level?" And then the Spirit intervenes and says, "You have God." You see, my sense of entitlement shows how quickly, how easily, my heart can replace God with myself. If you want to know whether or not you have made yourself the center of the story, just pay attention to how you react when someone treats you in a way that you don't think you deserve or when you feel taken for granted or when you aren't patted on the back for a job well done or when a driver cuts you off in heavy traffic. Even worse, what is your stance toward God when life doesn't go the way you want?
My first reaction, all too often, is to lash out because being the center of the story means that everyone and everything else, including God, exists to serve me. And when they aren't serving me, there is a big problem.
The idea that we exist to be served by others is not usually something of which we are truly aware. It is embedded deep down and has become such an integral part of the way we live and think that it is extremely difficult to isolate and decipher. The more I think about it, the more this is key to everything. We will always be miserable if our sense of entitlement continually puts demands on everyone around us that they were never meant to carry. We will always be disappointed if we put expectations of joy and fulfillment on our idols as they were never meant to bear that weight. The creation was made to point to the Creator but our greatest temptation is to stop our worship at the creation because to go one step further is to admit that it is not about us.
I have said it to many people. The idea that "it is not about us" is the most difficult lesson for any human being to earn. But once you see that there is greater joy from giving up yourself for the sake of God and others, your eyes begin opening up to the purpose for which we were created. All of the angst, frustration and despair we encounter in defending our "rights" starts to melt away. It is replaced with peace, gratitude and joy.
"Christianity is voluntary crucifixion." - Darrin Patrick
"There is nothing that makes you more miserable (or less interesting) than self-absorption." - Tim Keller
Why are you strivin these days?
Why are you tryin to earn grace?
Why are you cryin? Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you lookin for love?
Why are you still searchin as if I'm not enough?
To where will you go child?
Tell me where you will you run?
To where will you run?
Cause I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
So please don't fight
These hands that are holdin you
My hands are holdin you
http://sukofamily.org/?p=3048
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Father's Day
"My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do
it."
Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name."
It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons."
In a way that mirrors my Heavenly Father, my earthly father has stood beside me through all my trials, sins and imperfections. Thank you Pops. I love you.
Hear, O sons, a father's instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain insight - Proverbs 4:1
http://patrickmorley.com/blog/2014/6/15/7-lessons-i-learned-from-my-dad
http://www.rzim.org/blog/cultural-issues/a-noble-four-letter-word/
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scottysmith/2014/06/15/a-prayer-for-fathers-day/
Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name."
It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons."
In a way that mirrors my Heavenly Father, my earthly father has stood beside me through all my trials, sins and imperfections. Thank you Pops. I love you.
Hear, O sons, a father's instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain insight - Proverbs 4:1
http://patrickmorley.com/blog/2014/6/15/7-lessons-i-learned-from-my-dad
http://www.rzim.org/blog/cultural-issues/a-noble-four-letter-word/
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scottysmith/2014/06/15/a-prayer-for-fathers-day/
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Tim Keller Evangelism Tips
- Let people around you know you are a Christian (in a natural, unforced way)
- Ask friends about their faith – and just listen!
- Listen to your friends problems – maybe offer to pray for them
- Share your problems with others – testify to how your faith helps you
- Give them a book to read
- Share your story
- Answer objections and questions
- Invite them to a church event
- Offer to read the Bible with them
- Take them to an explore course
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/that-awkward-moment-when-we-speak-the-gospel
http://kellerquotes.com/persuasion/
http://www.danieldarling.com/2013/03/what-evangelism-is/
http://magazine.biola.edu/article/14-summer/how-can-we-be-better-disagree-ers/
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/08/07/when-will-christ-return
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Relationships
"Take the emotional risk and build deep relationships with friends who care. There is no physician like a true friend." - Lecrae
From Jeff Bethke...
From Jeff Bethke...
I seriously love it here. Yesterday we played soccer with the kids while a group of them practiced a performance for the first lady of Uganda. The kids here are insane–they play all day, never get sweaty, and don’t get tired. They put me to shame.
For dinner all the guys I’m with split up and we all eat with a different orphan home. The mom in the one I went to was named Beatrice. It was such a special moment. Here the girls prepare the food and then come kneel before the guys as they give it to them. Then the girl who served me my food said “let us pray” in one of the cutest voices ever. For dinner we have beans and this mashed up corn type stuff called “porsha” I think. It was good! The serving size here is ridiculous though. They all made fun of me for eating like a “muzungu” and not eating a lot. When mama Beatrice brought me my food I thought it was for the whole table haha.
Today we are going to do lots of work around the property to get it ready for the First Lady. There’s a special buzz around here because everyone is really looking forward to it. Excited to do a small part in maintaining this awesome property. Also hope it’ll be a good time of conversation with the workers who live here.
Lastly, I’m just so reminded here of where true joy comes from. All the kids here have such joy and such a beautiful spirit among them despite their circumstances. Frankly sometimes it’s embarrassing to me. Here you can’t help but realize what’s really important in life. There is such a heavy emphasis on relationships here. Joy comes from friendship, conversation, and loving each other. Because of Dollar For The Poor they’ve been blessed here to have their basics needs met like durable shelter, 3 hot meals a day, water, and education. And all that happens from people giving a dollar a month. It’s crazy that it’s such a small amount I never even notice it coming out of my bank, yet it provides so much for the kids. I mean what would it look like if the each person in the Body gave a dollar? It could be from a CEO’s salary or a 12 year old’s allowance. It’s a level playing field and we all can have a part. What’s holding you back? It took me awhile to sign up but once I did I’ve never regretted it. Especially after seeing the faces and schools that it’s helping.
Seriously if you have a chance checkout Dollar For The Poor. Humbled by their work and seeing it first hand I can vouch they have a kingdom mindset. Their main priority is to restore and invest in relationships, and seeing the fruit of that here is beautiful. I have so much to learn and thankful for God’s grace in teaching me so much while over here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I posted this because it harkens back to why we are here. Do you know why you were created? The Bible teaches we were made to love, worship and glorify God. We were made to have a relationship with Him. From that flows relationships with others. But many have missed the point. Even those who have gotten the point often approach it with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Why? Because it takes time to get to know someone. It takes effort to share life with another. It takes courage to be vulnerable, to love, to give oneself to another. Even our pride gets in the way as it tells us we are capable of going through this life on our own. Others will just let us down anyway.
So why does anyone do it at all? Because the reward is so much greater than the risk. It is so much sweeter than the potential heartbreak of the investment. The destination makes the journey, no matter how treacherous, completely worthwhile.
Sadly, many only see the risks and not only rob themselves of the blessings of community in this life but put themselves in jeopardy of missing the blessings of eternity with God. Relationship matters...much more than most of us know or are willing to admit...
Monday, May 28, 2012
Idolatry Part 2
"All these toys were never intended to possess my heart. My true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ." - C.S. Lewis
"If we turn from God to treasure something more, it will prove to be a hard master. An eternally hard master." - John Piper
"We all worship something. What do you bow to in your heart? If it ain't Jesus, it ain't worth it." - Jefferson Bethke
"Idols always break the hearts of their worshipers." - C.S. Lewis
"Sin is not simply doing bad things. It is putting good things in the place of God." - Tim Keller
From Pastor Tim Keller...
"The Ten Commandments begin with two commandments against idolatry. Then come commandments 3 – 10. Why this order? It is because the fundamental problem in law breaking is always idolatry. In other words, we never break commandments 3 – 10 without first breaking 1 and 2.
We will either worship God or other things. We cannot eliminate God without creating God substitutes. Something will capture our hearts and imaginations and be the most important thing to us – our ultimate concern, value, and allegiance. So every personality, community, and thought form will be based on either God himself or on some God substitute, an idol.
This means that idolatry is ultimately the reason for all wrongdoing. Why do we ever lie or steal or covet? Of course, the general answer is “because we are weak and sinful,” but the specific answer is always because there is something besides Jesus Christ that we feel we must have to be happy, something that is more important to our hearts than God, something that is enslaving our hearts through inordinate desires. All our failures to trust God wholly or to live rightly are rooted in idolatry – something we make more important than God.
…Therefore, in sin we are always forgetting what God has done for us and instead are being moved by some idol. That is precisely what happened to the Israelites in the desert.
Note also that God first rescues the people from Egypt, and then he gives them the Ten Commandments. Keeping the Ten Commandments is not what saved them; God had already done that. God did not first give the Law and then deliver the people - first he delivered his people, and then he gave them the Law. Thus we are not saved by the Law, but saved for the Law. The Law is how we regulate our love relationship with God, not the way we merit the relationship. We are saved by faith in Christ alone.
Over the past few years God has spoken to me most about two things - idolatry and grace. I never realized how much of my heart was given to things rather than God and I never realized the depth of God's love and grace that He would continue to pursue me through my constant rebellion. Some of my idols have been taken away, others have been lessened and still others remain. It is almost unfathomable to me, knowing what I now know, that idolatry remains an issue in my life. I know that attempting to find my hope, joy and comfort in anything besides Jesus leads to addiction, depression and despair. Yet, the pull remains - a pull that I am not always successful in defeating. In fact, idolatry is more than just a battle between humans and their vices. It is more than just a test of our willpower. It is ultimately about good vs. evil.
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? - Galatians 4:8-9 (ESV)
What is Paul talking about here? He's not pulling any punches...that's for sure. This is a letter written to the church in Galatia that was losing its grip on the Gospel. Notice that it was God who found them. Not the other way around. Paul doesn't allow self-righteousness to creep in for one second. But what about this phrase - "worthless elementary principles of the world"? From Matt Chandler...
Now, what we know about that phrase “elementary principles” is it’s a reference to demonic spiritual forces. In the ancient world, they attributed to the elements of nature a kind of a spiritual force that needed to be appeased in order to get what you want from that spiritual force. If you were a farmer and you needed rain, you would need to appease the god that controlled the rain in order to make it rain. If you were going to go on a trip via the sea, then you wanted to appease Poseidon so that you would get there safely. If you wanted to become pregnant, you go to a fertility god. If you wanted to get married, you’d go to Aphrodite and you’d make these sacrifices and you would take part in these kinds of rituals to get from that god whatever you wanted from that god.
Paul’s saying that these gods are not gods; they’re elementary principles. Which means there are spiritual forces, powerful spiritual forces, behind our idols. Paul’s pointing out the reality that these spiritual powers cannot deliver what they promise. They cannot deliver what they promise because ultimately they are not sovereign and all powerful. They can only do what they’re allowed to do.
This should get our attention. Idolatry is essentially demonic worship. That should make you more than tremble a little. It got my attention. With certain battles that have lasted years and years, there can exist a level of comfort within that battle. This teaching takes any level of comfort away.
God gave us many gifts - food, drink, sex, money, health, marriage, success, etc. These gifts were all meant to not only be blessings to us, but to point back to the Creator, so that our love and affection would rise up to Him. Instead, we regularly choose to have our affections terminate on the gift itself. When we do that we do not worship God...we worship His creation. This is simply paganism. It is being enslaved to those things that by nature are not gods. You were created to glorify God. To use creation to glorify yourself is to worship things other than God. We have been fooled into thinking this isn't a big deal, or even worse, we no longer even think about it all.
There are some great questions in the following sermon that can help each of us determine what our idols are...
"Want to know if you have an idol? If you're willing to sin to get it, or if you're sinning because you're not getting it." - Jeff Bethke
http://www.justinbuzzard.net/2012/04/25/that-idol-that-you-love-it-doesnt-love-you-back/
http://www.stevekmccoy.com/keller-idoaltry.pdf
http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2015/08/26/idolatry-is-dumb-jesus-is-not/
http://kellerquotes.com/the-definition-of-idolatry/
"If we turn from God to treasure something more, it will prove to be a hard master. An eternally hard master." - John Piper
"We all worship something. What do you bow to in your heart? If it ain't Jesus, it ain't worth it." - Jefferson Bethke
"Idols always break the hearts of their worshipers." - C.S. Lewis
"Sin is not simply doing bad things. It is putting good things in the place of God." - Tim Keller
From Pastor Tim Keller...
"The Ten Commandments begin with two commandments against idolatry. Then come commandments 3 – 10. Why this order? It is because the fundamental problem in law breaking is always idolatry. In other words, we never break commandments 3 – 10 without first breaking 1 and 2.
We will either worship God or other things. We cannot eliminate God without creating God substitutes. Something will capture our hearts and imaginations and be the most important thing to us – our ultimate concern, value, and allegiance. So every personality, community, and thought form will be based on either God himself or on some God substitute, an idol.
This means that idolatry is ultimately the reason for all wrongdoing. Why do we ever lie or steal or covet? Of course, the general answer is “because we are weak and sinful,” but the specific answer is always because there is something besides Jesus Christ that we feel we must have to be happy, something that is more important to our hearts than God, something that is enslaving our hearts through inordinate desires. All our failures to trust God wholly or to live rightly are rooted in idolatry – something we make more important than God.
…Therefore, in sin we are always forgetting what God has done for us and instead are being moved by some idol. That is precisely what happened to the Israelites in the desert.
Note also that God first rescues the people from Egypt, and then he gives them the Ten Commandments. Keeping the Ten Commandments is not what saved them; God had already done that. God did not first give the Law and then deliver the people - first he delivered his people, and then he gave them the Law. Thus we are not saved by the Law, but saved for the Law. The Law is how we regulate our love relationship with God, not the way we merit the relationship. We are saved by faith in Christ alone.
Over the past few years God has spoken to me most about two things - idolatry and grace. I never realized how much of my heart was given to things rather than God and I never realized the depth of God's love and grace that He would continue to pursue me through my constant rebellion. Some of my idols have been taken away, others have been lessened and still others remain. It is almost unfathomable to me, knowing what I now know, that idolatry remains an issue in my life. I know that attempting to find my hope, joy and comfort in anything besides Jesus leads to addiction, depression and despair. Yet, the pull remains - a pull that I am not always successful in defeating. In fact, idolatry is more than just a battle between humans and their vices. It is more than just a test of our willpower. It is ultimately about good vs. evil.
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? - Galatians 4:8-9 (ESV)
What is Paul talking about here? He's not pulling any punches...that's for sure. This is a letter written to the church in Galatia that was losing its grip on the Gospel. Notice that it was God who found them. Not the other way around. Paul doesn't allow self-righteousness to creep in for one second. But what about this phrase - "worthless elementary principles of the world"? From Matt Chandler...
Now, what we know about that phrase “elementary principles” is it’s a reference to demonic spiritual forces. In the ancient world, they attributed to the elements of nature a kind of a spiritual force that needed to be appeased in order to get what you want from that spiritual force. If you were a farmer and you needed rain, you would need to appease the god that controlled the rain in order to make it rain. If you were going to go on a trip via the sea, then you wanted to appease Poseidon so that you would get there safely. If you wanted to become pregnant, you go to a fertility god. If you wanted to get married, you’d go to Aphrodite and you’d make these sacrifices and you would take part in these kinds of rituals to get from that god whatever you wanted from that god.
Paul’s saying that these gods are not gods; they’re elementary principles. Which means there are spiritual forces, powerful spiritual forces, behind our idols. Paul’s pointing out the reality that these spiritual powers cannot deliver what they promise. They cannot deliver what they promise because ultimately they are not sovereign and all powerful. They can only do what they’re allowed to do.
This should get our attention. Idolatry is essentially demonic worship. That should make you more than tremble a little. It got my attention. With certain battles that have lasted years and years, there can exist a level of comfort within that battle. This teaching takes any level of comfort away.
God gave us many gifts - food, drink, sex, money, health, marriage, success, etc. These gifts were all meant to not only be blessings to us, but to point back to the Creator, so that our love and affection would rise up to Him. Instead, we regularly choose to have our affections terminate on the gift itself. When we do that we do not worship God...we worship His creation. This is simply paganism. It is being enslaved to those things that by nature are not gods. You were created to glorify God. To use creation to glorify yourself is to worship things other than God. We have been fooled into thinking this isn't a big deal, or even worse, we no longer even think about it all.
There are some great questions in the following sermon that can help each of us determine what our idols are...
"Want to know if you have an idol? If you're willing to sin to get it, or if you're sinning because you're not getting it." - Jeff Bethke
http://www.justinbuzzard.net/2012/04/25/that-idol-that-you-love-it-doesnt-love-you-back/
http://www.stevekmccoy.com/keller-idoaltry.pdf
http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2015/08/26/idolatry-is-dumb-jesus-is-not/
http://kellerquotes.com/the-definition-of-idolatry/
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