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Why should we make no idols?  God is guarding us from terrible distortions that our images of god cause.  (Click here for the Atlantic Monthly article I referenced about Christianity causing the financial crisis.)  Think of some listed by a professor at Princeton Seminary, Daniel Migliore:

Belief in “God” has destroyed human freedom, even in our own American history we can look back at ways the church justified slavery as a God given institution.

Belief in “God” has sanctioned the exploitation of the weak.  Look at the Crusades and the way that Christians exploited those who were not like them.

Belief in “God” has been used to justify spousal abuse, child abuse, and have kept women in subservient roles throughout history.

This God that has justified these things is not the God of the Bible – or should not be portrayed as the God of the Bible.  This God that has justified these things is a God created in our own image and one that was constructed by man.  And the problem is that…

Our images of God look too much like us! (Exodus 20:4)

1. Pat Robertson’s god, as seen this week (click here for news story/video), looks too much like Pat Robertson who is concerned with revenge and punitive measures.  Maybe your god looks more like you, maybe it’s even more pleasant, the predominant idol of god in America is quite benign at least on the surface and is worshipped by the health, wealth and prosperity gospel preachers.
2. We are exporting this prosperity gospel all over the world.  Even in the poorest reaches of Africa people are teaching that if they give to the their church then they’ll have buckets of money.  We have exported a god of consumerism that looks so much like us here in America. (Click here for Christianity Today’s coverage of the exportation of prosperity gospel.)

Our idols make terrible masters. (Exodus 20:5)

• The problem with making false gods or god in our image is that we end up serving that god instead of the true god.
• Definition of idolatry by Augustine: Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that is meant to be worshiped. I think that we can saw we are in danger of worshipping the gifts over the giver.
• Today in many faith healing and prosperity gospel churches they worship their own faith.  What a terrible idol to worship!  The idol that invites you to give and to give and to pray and to pray.  If anything goes wrong it’s your fault because you didn’t have enough faith!  The god of your own faith wasn’t strong enough.
• The idol of that god is my faith – because my faith can do anything!  The idol for some of you is your righteousness – my works can do anything!  The problem is that our faith and works can’t do anything!  That’s why we need God – not just more effort.

Our attempts to control God fail, because he blesses and curses. (Exodus 20:5-6)

• This command does not forbid religious art but creating an idol that would control god.  In other words you can not control God by making his picture and using it.  You can not control god through excess faith.  God is moved by our faith – he is not bound to it!
• John 4 illustrates how religion gets in the way of worship.  The Samaritans thought that God was on their side because they worshipped on this mountain, the Jewish people thought that God was on their side because they worshipped on that mountain.
• I know in some of our darker moments we want to control God, we want to bargain with God, but God doesn’t bargain.  You can’t trade your life for your spouse, you can’t do enough good works to save your children.  You can’t.
• God is trying to save us from the heartache that comes by false hope of false gods.  Whether it be graven image, or a midnight bargain, or our faith as our god.

We must keep worship simple – we must come to God on his terms.

• John 4 illustrates how religion gets in the way of worship.  This woman wanted to talk about mountains and man made rituals – Jesus wanted to talk about life and faith.  He says that we are set free when we worship in…
• Spirit
  • Worshipping God happens in the Spirit and is not confined to a place or time, neither this mountain nor Jerusalem.
  • Worship is laying down everything before God and in return God lifts us up to his vantage point and shows us things from his perspective.
  • When we worship in Spirit we see a connection and clarity.  Acts 13:2
• Truth
  • Romans 1:20-25 makes it clear that we can inappropriately give our worship to something else.
  • What makes true worship is a true object of worship.
  • We must be clear that we worship God, why we worship him.  We must consecrate ourselves for this task and focus on his worth.
• When we come to God with our agenda, when we come to God with our terms, we find a God who looks a lot like us!  When we come to God and say reveal yourself to me, we find God as he is.
• Sometimes the God that we are angry with is not the God that is, rather we are angry at the god we have.  We must discard the idols, gods, in our lives and take up the true God as he is, not as we would have him.

Anytime you feel disappointed in yourself, you’ve had an identity crisis.  Perhaps you showed up late, let a friend down, lost your temper with your spouse and left saying, “Why did I do that?  That’s not the person I am, that’s not the person I want to be, that’s not the standard I have set for myself.”  You’ve had an identity crisis because who you are and who you want to be did not match up with your actions.  Sometimes if left unchecked this will lead us to a new and disappointing identity, “I’m not good at anything, I’ll never be the person I want.”

I think one of the names that come to mind when we talk about an identity crisis is Michael Phelps.  Yet, in his recent interviews it seems that he is surrendered to the fallout of this choice and is determined to stay the course.  Peter has a series of identity crises in the scripture and yet there is one characteristic that keeps him on top and that characteristic is surrender.  Peter led a life of surrender and it’s what kept his identity intact and grew him through these challenges.

1.       Worship

• Peter’s confidences in traditions get in the Way in Acts 10:9-16.  He is worshiping a God he has made in his own image – a God more concerned about rule than relationship.
• The greatest challenge to worship is our understanding of God.  We think we have God figured out and worship the God we know.  Worship is a process of discovery, it is where we empty ourselves of everything and allow God to lift us up to his perspective showing us new things about who he is.
• Throughout history this is the greatest challenge to worship – a false assumption that we have God figured out.
  • Cain & Abel, in Genesis 4, we see Abel worshiped God with sacrifices pleasing to God.  Cain however thought he knew better and thought he could get away with it.  Cain was worshiping a God in his own image.
  • Aaron’s sons worship a god they thought was indifferent and it cost them their lives (Leviticus 10:1).
  • the Pharisees worshiped a god they thought they knew and crucified Jesus.
  • Jesus’ tells a parable (Luke 18) of a Pharisee and a Tax Collector, the Pharisee thought he knew what God wanted and left the same.  The Tax Collector came – seeking to be known and left changed.
• Peter in this passage lacked worship that lifted him out of this and into a new perspective, God’s perspective.
  • When we don’t get worship right it affects every other relationship in our life.  Here it almost prevented Peter from evangelizing to the Gentiles.
  • Romans 1:21-25 tells us what happens to people who worship God in their own image.
  • We need to let God be God and surrender to God’s Spirit moving us in new and exciting ways.

2.       Fellowship

• Peter’s own agenda gets in the way in Galatians 2:11-14.  He had been the first to welcome the gentiles into the fold, but gets stuck.  Paul’s correction that restores him.
• The greatest challenge to fellowship is “me centeredness” “selfishness” maybe the second challenge is “you centeredness.”  Truth be told in fellowship we value us, not me – not you – us.  Because we are the body, I need you and you need me in order to be we – to be the body.
• We get too caught up in what I am getting from church and what they think.  We need to be concerned that together as a body we are growing.  Sometimes music on Sunday doesn’t suit me, or the sermon doesn’t connect.  That doesn’t mean we give up – we pray that the music is blessing our neighbor and that the sermon is touching someone’s life.
• Paul challenged him, called him out and we know he heard Paul.  In 2 Peter 3:15-16 we see that Peter puts Paul’s letters on the same plain as scripture.  This makes it clear that Peter has a positive and restored view of Paul.
• If we would live among each other with true repentance we could weather the storms that will surely come our way.  The challenge is to surrender to each other.  Be open to correction, both in receiving and giving.

3.       Evangelism

• I think the greatest present day challenge to evangelism is fear.  We are afraid to share the gospel, for fear that it will adversely affect our relationships.  Peter’s fear get in the way in Matthews 26:69-75.  In Matthew 26:33 Peter was all too eager to die for Christ, what happened?  His old identity and fear snuck back.
• Jesus love restores him, John 21.15-19.  And it’s God’s love that moves us beyond the fear of evangelism.
• 1 John 4:18, “Perfect love casts out fear.”  When we have our hearts filled with God’s love we will charge into any opportunity to share the gospel.  Be surrendered to love, let God’s love so fill you and move you that you have no time or room for fear.

4.       Compassion

• The greatest challenge to true compassion is our self ambition.  Peter’s ambition and desire for greatness get in the way in Matthew 16:22.
• He gets it right in Matthew 16:13-20 – what happens?  He’s been told he’ll be the foundation for the church and envisions greatness and power – yet Jesus is talking sacrifice.
• Compassion is when we look the most like Christ. Look to Jesus’ example.  It’s not giving a quarter it’s inviting the broken in and waiting with them for kingdom of God.  Drawing the broken to us does not advance our goals, but we must take up the cross for it’s in compassionate sacrifice that we most closely resemble Christ.
• The key to compassion is surrender – surrender to God, to Christ’s example and surrender to the Jesus we meet in the broken.

Surrender is the key to surviving an identity challenge.  Whether it’s surrender to God or each other.  Surrender is how we have a church filled with grace!  Surrender is what moves me beyond “ME” and into relationships.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”                                 – Matthew 16:24-26

Try Harder, Part Two

The dream for AA started in 1930 and by 1941 this dream became a national movement that included men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds. By 1945 this movement became a rapidly growing international movement. As early as 1986 electronic bulletin boards, precursors to the internet are being used and national conferences with attendance of 45,000 are happening. The founder of this movement was listed in Time Magazines 100 Heroes and Icons of the last century. Today there are 114,000 groups in 180 countries with a membership of over 2,000,000. They did this without any outside donations, funded completely by themselves with no member eligible to contribute over $3,000. How did they do this? Because they understood one thing, “We are powerless, dependent upon a higher power for victory and that in order to achieve victory in life we must turn our lives over to God.”

These maybe the first three principles of AA, but they didn’t start with Bill W. or Dr. Bob. They started with Jesus Christ. I’m afraid that in this regard they have mastered something that most churches completely fail to understand. We say, “Try harder.” They say, “Give up – give it to God.” They got it right, we missed it.

1. The world wants you to do more.

• The world in which Paul found himself was no difference. They said, “Work harder to be righteous.” Particularly in circumcision – the mark of belonging. Some believers falsely confused the mark of the Old Testament with the new. (3:1-11)
  • Paul says, “It is those who worship in the Spirit of God.” If you have the Spirit then you have the circumcision of the heart. (See Romans 2:29, Deuteronomy 30:6)
  • Paul could attack this idea about righteousness because he had not only tried it, but succeeded at the works game. He could talk about these accomplishments because he had them and he knew they meant nothing.
  • What was it that eclipsed his righteousness? Jesus’ Christ and his work
• Play harder to be fulfilled (3:17-19)
  • God is their “belly.” This word is used for appetite and for heart. It is the seat and source of desire both for satisfying your appetite and your sexuality. This is the source of what we might today call lust. This word is also a very physical word, describing the mid section of your body in the Greek. It is used by Paul elsewhere to describe the body that is perishing. Combine these two images and you see that what following your belly or your lusts lead to. Gluttony and destruction – both spiritually and physically.
  • “Glory is in their shame,” These two words glory and shame are complete opposites, they’re antonyms and normally one does not glory in shame. The only exception I can think of is reality TV where you have a bunch of people living and competing together – talking trash, living trash and celebrating trash.

2. Christ wants you to be his. (3:12-16)

• At first you would be tempted to think that this passage is about trying harder, but that’s if you miss “Christ has made me his own”
• In the NASB this is translated as, “Christ has laid hold” of me. It is an aggressive word – attack, seize, overpower…all are synonyms.
• Don’t you see, Christ has done the work! It takes no effort to be dead nor does it take any effort to be overpowered.

3. You must work to be.

• Paul realizes that there’s some work in giving up. Verse 13 for instance, reveals that there is some work in forgetting, we talked a little bit about this when we talked about guilt. We must forget the past and move one. Will power doesn’t win, surrender does.
• Jesus says that we must lay ourselves down, daily. Luke 9:23 states, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
  • AA says it like this, “We don’t give up drinking for the rest of our life, just not today. If I want a drink I’ll put it off until tomorrow.”
  • Lamentations 3:22-24, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
  • The hard part is in giving up!

“Victory Through Surrender”

Try Harder

We all can be like Wally sometimes, especially in America where a little hard work and deep thought can solve anything.  But, it doesn’t always work – working harder.  Sometimes our best bet is to throw in the towel and try again, try something else, or just let it go.  Sometimes the only way to win, is to loose.  Sound confusing?  It sounded just as confusing 2,000 years ago when Jesus said, “If you want to find your life you should loose it.”  Sunday we’ll finish our sermon series “Out Of Order” and look at this last answer that’s broken, “Try Harder.”  I encourage you to read Philippians 3 and pray through that passage.  Ask God to reveal any area in your life that you just can’t seem to win (if you even need help) – just don’t dwell on it too long.  Bring that failure Sunday and let’s explore why sometimes the only way to win is too loose.