One thing I think we have learned in this study is that our God is a jealous God and will not tolerate any competition. Because of His exclusivity He deals strongly with competitors. Two weeks ago we looked again at Ez. 14 and saw that God has a single objective on His mind when His children have divided loyalties – and that is the destruction of the idol, the destruction of His competition.
The final dimension of our study of idols is “How to deal with idols of the heart.” We know what they look like, we know how detrimental they are, we know how to identify them in our lives, so it behooves us to get rid of them. And so far we have looked at three principles for dealing with idols. First of all, we have to choose whom we will serve – we can’t serve two masters. Secondly, we have to resolve to love God with all our hearts – we can’t give Him most of our affection, He wants it all. Third, we have to appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit – He was sent to be our Helper because God knows idolatry is a powerful attraction and we can’t defeat it on our own power.
This brings us up to where we are today, so let’s look at the final two principles we need to practice if we want to conclusively destroy the idols we have erected in our lives. I want us to start by looking at this passage in 1 Timothy 2:3-4. I’m calling this principle, “Carry a warrior mentality.”
4. Carry A Warrior Mentality – 1 Tim. 2:3-4
Several years ago Steve Farrar wrote a very good book for men and fathers called “Point Man.” In it he compared the job of a father to the job of the point man on a military patrol. He explained how in the Vietnam war when small groups of soldiers would be in enemy territory, there was this point man would walk some distance ahead of the rest of the patrol and serve as the lookout. It was a critically important position since the point man was responsible for the safety of the entire group, and it was a very dangerous position because he was exposed as well as isolated from the safety of the group. When you are the point man for the day, every nerve in your body is on high alert. You know that any stick on the path could be the trigger for a booby trap. Any indention on the side of the trail could be concealing a land mine. Any movement in the bushes could be an enemy soldier ready to take your life. And because of the unrelenting tension and danger, you didn’t dare mosey your way down the path and through the jungle.
That is the imagery I am appealing to when I say that one of the principles for tearing down idols is to carry a warrior mentality. The apostle Paul thought along the same lines, according to 2 Tim. 2:3-4. Here he says, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” In his letters to Philemon and the church in Philippi, he refers to two of his co-workers as “fellow soldiers.” Why all this military terminology? Because Paul appreciated the danger associated with being in enemy territory. When you are the point man, you are not wondering if the Yankees are winning or not. You aren’t planning what you are going to have for dinner that night. You aren’t worrying about the lack of rain and how low the water table is. You’re not thinking about how the dollar is doing against the yen, in other words, you “aren’t entangled with the affairs of everyday life.” You have a single focus, and that is the danger of your situation and the survival of yourself and your men.
Something to remember about dealing with idols is that you can never let your guard down. Every morning when we wake up, our feet need to hit the floor with the realization that we are at war with an enemy who is committed to our destruction. And to feed into our imagery of idolatry, there really is an idol behind every bush. In addition to that, just because you had victory yesterday doesn’t mean you will have victory today. Just because we had victory every day last week doesn’t mean we will have victory today.
I was talking with a man one time, and in the course of the conversation he told me he was an alcoholic. I didn’t think much of it until he told me later in the conversation that he hadn’t had a drink of alcohol in ten years! How does that work? I’ve had former addicts tell me the same thing – “I’m an addict, but I haven’t used in years.” What’s going on? These people understand the nature of an idol. They know they can never let their guard down. They know they can relapse in an instant, so they carry a warrior mentality.
We have to live this way as well. Several months ago I shared with you the basic principle that idols are insidious. They disguise themselves as legitimate desires, and if we don’t view life from the perspective of a warrior mentality, we will fall.
Transition: The final principle I’d like to share with you about dealing with idols is found in 2 Pt. 1:4 – 10, and that is to strengthen critical spiritual disciplines.
5. Strengthen Critical Spiritual Disciplines – 2 Pt. 1:4-10
[For by these] he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
Let’s talk for a moment about strengthening critical spiritual disciplines. Last week as we were talking about appropriating the power of the Holy Spirit, I emphasized the fact that we are incapable of dealing conclusively with idols all by ourselves. We need supernatural help. A misapplication of that truth would be the idea that we carry no responsibility in this matter and that we can simply sit back and let the Holy Spirit do all the work. That is an imbalanced view. The principle that balances appropriating the Holy Spirit is this one found in 2 Peter 1:2-4 that tells us we have a role in the matter as well.
What we all have in common is our faith, but then we have to “apply all diligence” (v.5) to add various disciplines to our faith: virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, etc. These disciplines need to be “increasing,” according to verse 8. “Increasing” is the opposite of “stagnating.” In other words, they need to be getting larger. And in verse 10 we see that we have to “practice” these disciplines.
Do world class athletes and musicians practice every day, or do they have their skills perfected and no longer need to practice? Obviously, even the most skilled athletes and musicians practice every day. Yehudi Menuhin is considered by many to be the greatest violinist of the 20th century, and he regularly practiced 8 hours a day. Why? Because he understood the principle that practice is important. World class musicians know that while they may have intrinsic abilities that separate them from the rest of the masses, it would be presumptuous to assume they could sit back and coast for the rest of their lives.
My point is that even though we have the Holy Spirit residing in us as our Helper, it is presumptuous for us to assume we can sit back and let Him do all the work in destroying the idols in our life. In fact, there are three disciplines that figure prominently in idol destruction. Let me give them to you quickly. The first is found in Mt. 17.
A. Prayer and Fasting – Mt. 17:21
14 And when they came to the multitude, a man came up to Him, falling on his knees before Him, and saying, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 "And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him." 17 And Jesus answered and said, "O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me." 18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you. 21 "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
Prayer and fasting is a discipline we don’t talk a lot about, which is unfortunate in light of it’s power. The point Jesus was making to His disciples is that there are some things in life that are so overwhelming that there is only one solution, and that is to pray and fast about the issue. If you are struggling with an idol that you just can’t seem to tear down, I strongly suggest you start here. Set aside a day to fast and pray for victory.
The second critical spiritual disciple I want to share with you is found in
Matt. 18:7-9, and I’m calling it radical amputation.
B. Radical Amputation – Mt. 18:8-9
8 "And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble [sin], cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. 9 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell.
Radical amputation is the idea that we need to be willing to take radical steps to get rid of the idols in our lives. An outstanding example of what this looks like is in the movie Fireproof. Do you remember the struggle the fire chief was having with his computer? How did he deal with it? He didn’t purchase filtering software. He didn’t set up an accountability partner. He took it outside and smashed it with a baseball bat. That is radical amputation! I have a pastor friend in Albany who has men struggling this way bring him their computer. They have to turn it in to him for two months. Some of the guys balk and insist they can’t live without it, and he simply says, “How serious are you about dealing with the problem? If you are ready to do business and break the hold this has on you, you’ll bring me the computer. Otherwise, you’re just playing around.” That is radical amputation, and sometimes that is the missing element in dealing with our idols.
The final critical spiritual discipline I want to share with you comes from James 5:16. I’m calling it confession and accountability.
C. Confession and Accountability – James 5:16
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Confession and accountability is another one of those disciplines that isn’t practiced too often. The dynamic involved in this discipline is similar to the dynamic involved in appropriating the power of the HS. Do you remember when I showed you how the presence of another person had a powerful effect on our behavior? It is easy to be “good” when we are around other people, but when we are alone, it’s a battle to be “good,” isn’t it? This is the same concept behind confession and accountability.
It isn’t hard for me to confess a sin to God. Why? Because it is something I do in private, and I can’t see Him. It is a whole different dynamic if I have to confess my sin to another human. Earlier this year we tried to get a men’s accountability program going here at church, and the idea was that we would meet on a monthly basis, share our struggles with each other, hold each other accountable, and pray for one another. Guess how well that idea went over? It was a flop! Guess why? Because it is easy to confess sins to God. We can do that in private. It’s a whole different story though to confess sins to another person.
But what does James say? He says, “confess your sins to one another [not for forgiveness, only “God can forgive sins”], and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
So there you have the five principles for dealing with idols of the heart. Can you remember them all? Here’s another acronym to help you: C-R-A-C-S. Choose Whom you will serve. Resolve to love God with all your heart. Appropriate the power of the HS. Carry a warrior mentality, and Strengthen critical spiritual disciplines.
No comments:
Post a Comment