Idols of the Heart

Rarely do I teach a class or deliver a message that hasn’t already penetrated my soul and taught me first.  I think that the only way a message is really exceptional is if the Holy Spirit has brought the hammer down first in the teacher/preacher’s life so that the passion can come from a place of real, deep conviction.

Last night, however, as I taught on really believing the Gospel (*see below for explanation of “Gospel”), the real weight of that came at that point and later as I reflected on it more and more.

I taught about how we say we believe the Gospel and and we do a lot of things that would be considered right for a disciple to do and yet it seems we tend to battle with the same surface sins over and over.  Why is that?  I say surface sins because those are the ones that we can see.  However, usually the surface sins indicate something much deeper: what Bob Thune and Will Walker, authors of The Gospel-Centered Life, call “Idols of the heart”.

Here’s the example we looked at last night - gossip.  Everybody knows when they gossip, right?…usually.  Anyway, so we realize we’re gossiping and so we feel convicted by it and repent.  Then we run along and gossip somewhere else. Doh! Why can’t we break that?! What’s going on that I keep gossiping when I know it’s wrong and don’t really want to (or do I?)

The question we explored last night was, “Why do we gossip?”  Here are some reasons suggested by the above-mentioned authors listed as “heart idols”:

• »  The idol of approval (I want the approval of the people I’m talking to)

• »  The idol of control (Using gossip as a way to manipulate/control others)

• »  The idol of reputation (I want to feel important, so I cut some-one else down verbally)

• »  The idol of success (Someone is succeeding—and I’m not—so I gossip about him)

• »  The idol of security (Talking about others masks my own in- security)

• »  The idol of pleasure (Someone else is enjoying life—and I’m not—so I attack her)

• »  The idol of knowledge (Talking about people is a way of show- ing I know more)

• »  The idol of recognition (Talking about others gets people to notice me)

• »  The idol of respect (That person disrespected me, so I’m going to disrespect him)

What’s the problem?  I haven’t really believed the Gospel to the point that I don’t need these idols to make me feel successful, validated, accepted, respected, etc.  I haven’t realized that IN CHRIST, I am complete so that my validation, acceptance, respect and on and on are found in and completed in HIM.  I don’t need to serve and/or be held captive by these idols IF I TRULY BELIEVE THE GOSPEL and so I am freed from fear, anxiety, low self-image and all the other deep-seeded problems that are MANIFESTED through actions like gossip, lying, etc.  Make sense? 

So, I’m left with the question of whether or not I truly BELIEVE the Gospel.  If so, it should have an absolutely RADICAL affect on my entire life.  As we said last night, my whole life and everything in it should be leveraged for the sake of the Kingdom of God. That includes my family, my stuff, my money…everything.

Are you content to give lip-service to your “belief” in the Gospel of Christ?  Do you feel the same level of conviction I’ve felt?  If so, it’s time to do some spelunking of the soul and figure out what idols are living why down deep in caves and crevices of your heart.  Ask God to shine the helmet light on them and start breaking them down.  Clear them out! Be free from fear, depression, anxiety, anger and all the other manifestations that come with failing to believe in the deliverance and power of the Gospel. 

Am I minimizing or over-simplifying deliverance from things like depression, anger, etc? Absolutely not! Many, if not most of these things require some help both in identifying and removing them.  Seek Godly, qualified help and accountability if you are wrapped up in these things, but I encourage you to follow my example on this and start addressing it today. Stop saying you believe the Gospel but living as if you’ve never even heard it.

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* In this post, I am referring to the Gospel (which literally means “Good News”) as the revealed message of the work of Jesus Christ to bear the wrath of a just God towards sin and, thus, serve as a substitute for sinners in order that they can then be at peace with God, having been cleansed and adopted by God Himself. The only proper response to hearing the Gospel is to believe it and repent of the sins that evoked the wrath of God and precipitated the sacrificial death of Christ.  For more information on the Gospel, feel free to email me.

Call for the Question

OK, admittedly, this kind of post is dangerous and can be a set-up for a flop if nobody responds, but I’m gonna do it anyway (so I hope you don’t leave me hanging).

Backstory: I used to have a very active and time-consuming blog called Espresso Roast.  I still keep it actively online, though it’s in moth balls, because I put a lot of work into the articles and will reference stuff from there from time to time as I did here.  I enjoyed writing on it very much, later added a few friends to contribute along with me for a short time, and developed a pretty decent following.  It was much more “article-driven” primarily about worldview issues, since I was working on a ThM in that field at the time.  I really started to burn out, though, and the big blogging explosion that had begun early in the last decade started waning a bit.  After shutting down active blogging there, I scaled back considerably and wrote only the occasional post of things that interested me on a different, personal journal/blog.  

That brings me to today.  I’m being drawn back into more active writing mode and would really like for it to be something that is a real encouragement to you (since you’re here reading this now), where you are.  So, along with writing about things that I think are important and offering general pastoral encouragement and insights, I’d like to incorporate things that you might be specifically interested in.  From a biblical worldview perspective, I’d like to attempt to answer questions and tackle subjects you may have and at least begin a dialogue so that, together, we can come to a clearer sense of truth in our lives than perhaps we could on our own.  There are other pastors who come by occasionally, too, so maybe we’ll get some objective contributors to the issue from those sources, as well.

For those of you reading who are a part of The Gathering, admittedly we don’t spend a great deal of time looking at “topical” stuff, dealing instead with topics as they arise within the context of a book of the Bible we happen to be going through at the time (which is by far the best approach anyway, imho).  Maybe this is a forum in which we can pursue the topics/personal issues and questions more directly.  

So, I’m putting it out there and giving you an opportunity to give me an idea as to what you’d like to see addressed, questions that you struggle with finding the answers to, or just subjects that you think a conversation would be interesting to engage in.  No honest question is off-base and since some topics require more time to address, they may not pop up immediately, but I will somehow address them.

Well, there you have it.  If you have any input, please leave a comment below.  I get a lot of comments on FB, Google+, etc. on things I post here, but I’d appreciate having comments for this post, in particular, compiled here.

This invitation will remain open so that if there are no immediate topics or questions that come up, you can always ask later.  Thanks!

Fear Factor

I’ve been thinking alot about fear lately.  As a matter of fact, it’s what I talked about this past Sunday at The Gathering.  I’m not talking about just any fear, but the fear of living honestly before people.  Being authentic without feeling the need to alter who you are to please someone else based on what you think they want you to be.  Living that is as crazy as all that sounds!

Our culture has gotten to the point where living what used to be considered deviant lives is now the norm; it’s cool.  It’s what’s expected.  Living a life of faith in Christ, let’s face it, is not.  Now, to be clear, saying you’re down with Jesus is fine, so long as it doesn’t alter your lifestyle from what everyone else is doing; so long as there are no demands placed on your autonomy. Make sense?  To do otherwise takes a great deal of courage. 

So, I’ve tried to come up with how we can overcome this fear.  Are there the typical 3 steps  to overcoming fear of man?  Can I will myself to do it?  Is living an honest life of faith in front of everyone something that should just come naturally?  All good questions, I think…few good answers.  To each of those questions, I’m left with a resounding no (if I’m honest).  Though that third one is a little tricky.  No, it doesn’t come natural to me because I want to be accepted by other people.  That’s sort of the way we’re made.  Yet, shouldn’t it come naturally for someone who has come into relationship with Christ?  Ah, there’s the rub.  It should, but the key there is the word relationship.

Relationship comes through spending time with someone.  With that comes intimacy.  The more time I spend with Christ, the closer I get to Him and the more influence He has over me.  The old saying is that you become like the person you hang with the most.  True here.  The deeper my love-relationship with Christ is, the less room fear has in my life because “perfect love drives out fear.”  (1 John 4:18)  It’s like the old hymn goes: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim…”.  There is something mysterious at work as we focus more and more on Christ, there is less room to care about what other people are thinking about that relationship.

Did you see the movie Shallow Hal?  Hal gets to know Gwyneth Paltrow’s character and falls in love with her even though everyone else (especially his “best” friend) thought he was crazy.  The more he got to know her (even when he discovered what she really looked like), the less he cared about what anybody else thought.  Same principle.

So, is there a quick and easy way to get over the fear factor involved with living your life of faith honestly before everybody?  Nope.  It’s just like any other relationship: it takes time, effort, investment and intimacy.  But before too long, you’ll begin to experience a healthy case of apathy in regards to others opinions and a freedom to be exactly who you were created to be.

Agree or disagree?  Let me know.  Do you experience this fear factor now?  Have you overcome it? If so, what got you to that point?  I’d love for you to leave a comment here, since I’m sure others could glean from your experience or struggles.  Plus, I’d love to interact with you.  Thanks!