Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Mike Wittmer on Idols

"Two facts are always true about idols. First, idols serve their makers, so it is we who pray and put our hope in them who actually play the role of god. We are in charge, and they exist to meet our needs. Second, idols wear us out. As the Philistines rose each morning to dust off and prop up their fallen god Dagon (1 Samuel 5:1-5), so we discover that idols demand our constant care and protection."

Mike Wittmer
The Last Enemy: Preparing to Win the Fight of Your Life

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Keller on the Idolatry of Money

"The solution to stinginess is a reorientation to the generosity of Christ in the Gospel, how he poured out his wealth for you. Now you don't have to worry about money -- the Cross proves God's care for you and gives you the security...What breaks the power of money over us is not just the redoubled effort to follow the example of Christ. Rather, it is deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ, what you have in him, and then living out the changes that the understanding makes in your heart – the seat of your mind, will, and emotions. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding and identity, our view of the world. Behavioral compliance to rules without a complete change of heart will be superficial and fleeting.”
Tim Keller
Counterfeit Gods

The Very Best Idols

Jay Keywood is married to my second cousin-in-law. Now I'm not sure if that is actually a recognized familial relationship, but I am sure that he wrote a good blog post today in regards to idols. In it he makes the following wise observation:

Most of the time, things become idols, not because they are inherently evil, like “murder,” but because God made them good, like “family.” The most intimate manifestations of idolatry are not hidden in the jungles of Cambodia, but thriving right under our noses. 

Click here to read the whole post and see why, as he puts it, the best things make the best idols.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Keller on Idols

"We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life.

"What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give."

Tim Keller
Counterfeit Gods

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Keller on Idols and Guilt

"There is legitimate guilt that is removed through repentance and restitution, and then there is irremediable guilt. When people say, 'I know God forgives me, but I can't forgive myself,' they mean that they have failed an idol, whose approval is more important to them than God's."

Tim Keller
Counterfeit Gods

Ministry Idols

Last Sunday I got a call at 5:45 a.m. from our senior pastor's wife telling me that he was sick and asking if I'd be able to preach that morning (at 9:15 & 11:00). I was scheduled to teach a Sunday School class on the first commandment, so I spent a couple hours transforming it into a sermon and preached it. I survived and so did all of the congregation, so chalk another one up to the grace of God!

Having just dealt with the topic of having no other Gods, I've been thinking the last couple days about what idolatries I have in my life as a pastor. Low and behold, I was making my morning sprint through a number of blogs I follow and Justin Taylor has a post on that very topic. More specifically, he includes a Mark Driscoll sermon (posted below) in which he goes through a number of typical pastoral idols. Taylor summarizes them as follows:

1.Attendance idolatry: Does your joy change when your attendance does?
2.Gift idolatry: Do you feel that God needs you and uses you because you are so skilled?
3.Truth idolatry: Do you consider yourself more righteous than more simple Christians?
4.Fruit idolatry: Do you point to your success as evidence of God’s approval of you?
5.Method idolatry: Do you worship your method as your mediator?
6.Tradition idolatry: What traditions are you upholding that are thwarting the forward progress of the gospel?
7.Office idolatry: Are you motivated primarily by God’s glory or your title?
8.Success idolatry: Is winning what motivates you at the deepest level?
9.Ministry idolatry: Do you use the pressure of ministry to make you walk with God?
10.Innovative idolatry: Does it matter to you that your ministry be considered unique?
11.Leader idolatry: Who, other than Christ, are you imaging?

Christian Community

I came across a great quote today. It was in a book that was citing another author's citation of this quote by yet another person. I know virtually nothing about R.H. Tawney, the person who originally said it. He might be the greatest theologian ever or he might have been a first rate heretic. Whatever he believed about anything else though, he got this one right:

"The man who seeks God in isolation from his fellows is likely to find, not God, but the devil, who will bear an embarrassing resemblance to himself. "

Two important points here:

1. What we won't find...If we seek to find God apart from others, we will most likely not find Him. This is because God has created us to live in community. The Church is not just a bunch of individuals who happen to be Christians. Rather the Church is the Body of Christ. Your pain should be my pain and likewise your joys. We are called to reflect for a watching world that God who has existed in the perfect communion of the Holy Trinity from time eternal.
2. What we will find...Most likely we will find something other than God, be it the devil or some idol that we have unduly elevated. Instead of us reflecting God, our god ends up looking a lot like us. I am reminded of Anne Lamott's observation, "You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

It may not always be pleasant or easy. We might not like what we hear if people are truly honest with us. But may we all have people in our lives to whom we give the access and the freedom to be used by God to shape and mold us into who He wants us to be. After all, I as I read in a Good Book once, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."

Book Review: Counterfeit Gods

I recently finished reading Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller. It is not quite the book that Keller’s New York Times bestseller The Reason for God was, but that is no slap in the face. Though a shorter book, like The Reason for God it is (un)apologetically written for a popular audience, and a book certainly worthy of reading.

There were many things in the book which I found to be helpful. Among them, I would like to mention these in particular:

1. Keller functionally defines an idol as “anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination mote than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” In light of this, he reminds us that idols are often not bad things, but rather good things which we have turned into ultimate things.
2. Keller makes a helpful delineation between surface idols (such as money, our spouse, our children) and deep idols (power, approval, comfort, control). The surface idols tend to be more easily observed in our lives, but they are usually symptoms of deep idols that need to be dealt with at the heart level.
3. You can not simply remove your idols. It is necessary that they be replaced (with the love of Christ, of course) otherwise the idols will come back like weeds.

My only complaint (and perhaps it is more of a “critique” than a “complaint”) would be that Keller leans heavily on quotes from others (especially C.S. Lewis) throughout. I have no problem with any of the things said in these quotes, it is just that the book at times felt more like a clearing house for other people’s thoughts than a collection of Keller’s. This is probably just a matter of personal taste. Keller is a brilliant thinker in large part because he is so well read, and he is careful to attribute other people’s thoughts to them (which I do appreciate).