October 6, 2024 • 48 mins
What happens when good things take God's place in our lives? In this conversation with Kris Emerson, we pull back the curtain on idolatry, revealing its subtle forms in the 21st century. We discuss how finances, family, and even our own righteousness can become idols if we're not careful, and how easily we can replace God's plan with our own. Ultimately, we explore the challenge and freedom of surrendering to His will.
Seven Key Takeaways:
- Idolatry is anything that replaces God: It's not just about physical idols; anything we prioritize over God becomes an idol. As Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:24)
- Modern idolatry is often subtle: We may not bow down to statues, but we can still prioritize comfort, security, or control over God.
- Idolatry can stem from good things: Even good things like family or financial security become idols if we place them above God.
- Our own righteousness can be an idol: Pride in our goodness can lead us to replace God's judgment with our own.
- Idolatry is often rooted in impatience: We may turn to idols when we lack the patience to trust in God's timing.
- Surrender is essential to combating idolatry: We must surrender our desires and control to God.
- God's power is limitless: True faith recognizes God's power and provision.
Twelve Quotes:
- "Idolatry is when you find those things in places that are not God." - Kris Emerson
- "He is the one-stop shop. He is going to provide for every deficiency and hole in our lives." - Kris Emerson
- "Sometimes your idols have to fail you in order for you to recognize that you've been putting your future, your daily peace in the wrong places." - Kris Emerson
- "Idolatry is more than just replacing God with something else, it's replacing the will and the way of God with something that is designed to fit me, not designed to glorify Him." - Kris Emerson
- "It really boils down to either God rules or you rule." - Kris Emerson
- "Be careful replacing God, yes. Be careful creating your own path to God, yes. But be careful becoming God." - Kris Emerson
- "You put him in his place and life will be as good as it's ever gonna get." - Kris Emerson
- "I sure am putting a lot of faith in that 403B." - Kenny Embry
- "There's a lot of insurance that if it's real or if it's not real, I'd like that insurance." - Kenny Embry
- "I like being right, Emerson...I like being on the right side of history." - Kenny Embry
- "The older brother...was basically resting on his righteousness...he worshiped his dad's stuff more than he worshiped his dad." - Kenny Embry
- "He promises that he will take care of us, but we don't get to dictate the terms that we're taking care of." - Kenny Embry
Four Applications:
- Reflect on your own life: Take time to examine your heart and actions. What are you prioritizing? Are there any areas where you need to surre
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode of Balancing the Christian Life, we
talk about idolatry.
Welcome to Balancing theChristian Life.
I'm Dr Kenny Embry.
Join me as we discover how tobe better Christians and people
in the digital age.
So how are you at avoidingidolatry?
(00:42):
I think most of us feel prettyconfident because there's not a
statue of a farmyard animal inour yard or an altar where
you're making sacrifices.
I agree, that's good, but howare you really doing with
avoiding idolatry?
Sure, we know that things likeour phones, money and fame can
become idols, but what aboutthose less obvious things, the
(01:04):
one that seemed perfectlyinnocent?
This is another one of thosebasic ideas of Christianity, and
I chose a good friend of mine,chris Emerson, to talk about
this with.
He and I have talked about whatidolatry truly is in the past,
privately though, and I reallyliked his take on this.
In this conversation, we'llexplore how our very natural and
(01:28):
understandable desires forthings like security or
self-reliance or self-esteem canturn into something that subtly
pushes God out of the picture.
It's a conversation that Ithink will challenge you to
think differently about what itmeans to truly trust God.
We'll talk about threedifferent stages of idolatry.
(01:50):
That comes on later in theconversation and we'll help you
identify those really kind ofsneaky idols that might be
hiding in plain sight.
So let's start here, chris.
What is idolatry?
Let's start here, chris.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
What is idolatry?
What is idolatry?
Well, the sort of standardapproach I think is good is
anything that replaces God.
It's probably our typicaldefinition.
We think of polytheism in theOld Testament and even the New
Testament, times where theycreated a lot of things that
they went to for the answersthat they needed and those
(02:24):
things weren't God.
I think it all feeds out ofpersonal need, and where you go
for the solutions to that need,whether they're perceived or
innate and real, there arethings that every person
believes they need to find.
Maybe you need to find peace,maybe you need to find happiness
, maybe you need to finddirection in life or mission, or
(02:47):
everybody's looking for thosethings, and so there's a
thousand directions to look, andthe gospel says that Jesus
Christ, by the gift of God, isthat answer.
He is not an answer.
He is the answer.
He is the source answer.
(03:07):
He is the answer, he is thesource.
And so when I think of idolatry,it's easy to go.
Well, that was this reallysilly.
You know, old-time thing wherethey worship these created
beings, but you know they werejust looking for answers to
their needs.
And for me, idolatry is whenyou find those things in places
that are not God.
I find a lot of happiness inthings like pickleball, but it's
(03:29):
not a needed thing to solve aproblem.
Christ is my problem solver andI go to him first and foremost.
(03:49):
Anything that answers the deepproblems of your heart and
brings you the peace to live andthrive if it is not God.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
When we look at idolatry in the Old Testament,
really what we think about arestatues of animals.
We think about Aaron and Moses.
We might even think about whatIsaiah has to say, which is
somebody brings in a piece ofwood, they make one half of it
into an idol and they burn theother half for warmth, and I
think one of the things that wefeel pretty safe with is, yeah,
(04:14):
we don't really have any idolslike that.
I mean, I have, I don't know,all day.
Today, I have managed to keepfrom worshiping a cow.
It was a big temptation for metoday, but I just didn't do it,
emerson, and I'm very proud ofmyself.
That's great, yeah, I know, butI think one of the things you
talk about, really anything thattakes the place of God To us in
(04:39):
the 21st century we thinkthat's kind of a silly thing to
do.
Why were they ever tempted toworship cows and frogs and
things that, quite frankly, kindof seem ridiculous?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I don't know the answer to thaton a sort of theological,
godlike level, because thosethings were, like the prophet
said, dumb and they couldn'tspeak and they didn't do
anything.
But it does say that it's builtwithin the human thought and
heart to seek for a poweroutside of ourselves that is
(05:18):
greater, that becomes abenefactor, this idea that there
is some benevolent force.
Remember, like I'm trying tokind of set up here.
I have these needs.
I have things in my life thatare very important that I cannot
create on my own or provide onmy own.
I need a greater outside sourceto do that.
(05:38):
So if I turn to the God ofheaven, it is provided.
It is provided on his timescale, it is provided in ways that he
sees fit.
You can't just look to thegreat God of heaven for the
blessings, but not the authorityand the leadership.
So polytheism said let's just goout and make that happen on our
own.
Let's invest our hearts in thisGod and this God and all these
(06:03):
different gods that serviceparticular parts of our lives.
It says that if we can createan external, greater force, now
the problem is we're creating anexternal great you can't like.
If you didn't have the power toprovide it for yourself, then
you don't have the power tocreate a God to provide it to
you.
It's all very silly, but I alsothink it's interesting to see
(06:23):
the poly side of it, that youknow there was a God for the
harvest and there was a God forfertility and there was a God
for sunlight, and this relatesto us a little bit.
Nobody would say I'll go outand create a force to give me
blessings and multiple forces.
But you know, idolatry todaydoes look like that.
(06:44):
If you listed, like, the topfive needs of your life, you
know provisions or peace or ahappy home, there are plenty of
non-God things out there thatyou can devote yourself to that
will seem like they will plugthat hole, like they will, even
though you know they'reinanimate, you know they're not
a, you're not God.
(07:05):
They will answer it, but you'llalways need a bunch of them.
You know you'll need um Imentioned pickleball.
You'll need uh, you'll needgolf to calm your nerves at work
, but it won't help yourmarriage, right that, you'll
need another God for that.
So, um, I think the thing aboutGod is the one true Yahweh God
is.
He is an active, living,powerful force who has proven
(07:29):
his existence over us and he isthe one stop shop.
He is going to provide forevery deficiency and hole in our
lives, but it's going to haveto be on his timescale, his way,
and maybe we're just not alwaysreally great at giving
ourselves over to that.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I completely agree.
I think one of the other thingsis it's easy for us to point
back and say weren't they idiots?
I cannot believe they fell forthat.
Here they are and they'reworshiping animals.
That is kind of stupid, andlet's just be clear about it.
That is, that's kind of stupid.
Aren't we so much smarter?
And I think we all kind ofrecognize that we probably do
(08:10):
many of the same things.
I'll go ahead and tell you Oneof the idols that I have is my
403B, which is a lot like a 401K.
It is the security, it is thefinancial security that I am
trying to have in my old age,that I am absolutely preparing
for that.
I am making sacrifices for that.
I am trying to have in my oldage.
That I am absolutely preparingfor that.
I am making sacrifices for that.
I am giving a lot of myattention and devotion.
(08:30):
My goodness, my 403b looks a lotlike an idol in some ways,
because I'm doing exactly thesame kinds of things that I
would do for God.
I'm doing a lot of the samekinds of things that I am doing
for, you know, any other kind ofsystem of belief, and I sure am
putting a lot of faith in kindsof things that I am doing for,
you know, any other kind ofsystem of belief and I sure am
putting a lot of faith in that403B and I think one of the
(08:51):
things that that I think it'sit's it's.
It's easy for us to criticizethat which we are divorced from
in time and space and and notsee it as we do it exactly the
same way, just with other names.
You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, boy, if you really believe that, kenny, and
if anybody's listening andthey've got their thing, that is
filling that hole and they feellike they have to have it.
I think that that needs to bereflected in the way you pray.
I think you pray to God and sayif you are my one true source,
rich or poor, healthy or sick,I'm always going to turn to you
(09:31):
and know that you will care forme.
But I have these other thingsthat I think might be becoming
as important as you.
It might be your savingsaccount, it might be your health
, it might be a significantother that can be blessings.
Here's the thing they can beblessings from a benevolent God
(09:52):
if he is the centerpiece of that, but in your prayer you have to
be willing to say if those arethe things upon which my joy is
dependent, then implement yourpower, god, and do something to
break me of that.
That's a scary thing to ask Alot of the idolatry in the Old
(10:12):
Testament.
They weren't really ready togive it up until it fell off a
stand and busted into pieces.
Even then they had to set itback up a few times.
Sometimes your idols have tofail you in order for you to
recognize that you've beenputting your future, your daily
peace in the wrong places.
And how sad it is that theycould just be blessings, just
(10:34):
things God is just handing to us.
But as they begin to replacehim, we need to be willing to
call on him to get involved, tobreak us of that allure.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
What we started talking about a little bit is
something that has to do withthings that are really kind of,
in and of themselves, goodthings.
I'm not going to knock a 401k.
I think a 401k is a wise thingto do for most people.
A 401k is a wise thing to dofor most people.
I think even God himself, insome of the parables and some of
the Proverbs would say you'rean idiot if you do not prepare
(11:09):
for the future, so you need toput some stuff away for the
future.
I think that is honestly somereally good advice, but you know
as well as I do that there area lot of really good things that
can become idols.
There are a lot of really goodthings that can become idols.
So can you think of some thingsthat can become idols for us
that in and of themselvesthey're good things?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
but when they decide that what they're going to do is
push God out of his place nowwe start to have problems.
There's probably several waysto approach this, but the thing
that comes to mind is when Godasks you to give them up or give
them to him or sacrifice them.
Look, whatever's in yoursavings account is fine, but if
you've ever read the book ofLuke, you will get beat up by
the idea that Jesus wants to seeyou share those goods with
other people.
(11:59):
He's fine that you drawsecurity out of them.
Keep some of it if you need to,but be ready, willing and
active in helping and serving.
You know it's an idol whenyou're asked to diminish it for
the sake of God and his glory,and that's of course.
Jesus taught that in the Sermonon the Mount and you cannot
(12:19):
serve God and mammon.
But it's not just money, is it?
No, it's not.
It's scheduling and energy.
It's your family.
I think about husbands lovingyour wives, like Christ loves
the church.
He purifies her, he presentsher to God.
God sanctified Gentlemen, godwants your wife and kids.
(12:40):
He made them, he wants them, hewants them to be his, he wants
them to be purified and he wantsthem in heaven.
They can become your idol ifyou are so engrossed with what
you get out of them and whatthey say about you that God
doesn't get them.
And God demands that yousacrifice what you want out of
(13:03):
it to submit them to him.
And so that's all.
Part of prayer is don't let ourblessings be turned into idols
or curses.
But the practical part is thescripture is constantly
demanding that we take what isof value to us and keep less of
it and give him and others moreof it.
(13:24):
And you know you wouldn't dothat with your God.
You wouldn't give up any partof God for anybody.
Well, if these things becomeyour God, that's how you'll know
it.
You'll have that white knucklegrip where you're hanging on
because your peace, youridentity, your life is directly
tied to them.
Now it's different with moneyand family.
Money you just give it away.
(13:45):
Family, I don't mean you giveup your family.
I don't mean, like Hannah, youtake Samuel at the age of
whatever and give him over.
But there's a lot of nuance tothat that does connect.
And so when you're asked tohand it or them to God that's
how you know, depends how tightyour grip is.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
It even.
I think and I'm not going toput words in your mouth, I'll go
ahead and say this for myselfOne of the stories that I've
grappled with for a long time Ithink everybody does is when God
tells Abraham I need you tokill Isaac, I need you to go
sacrifice Isaac.
And really, I mean one of thethings that Abraham knows is,
yeah, it's killing his son.
(14:28):
Terrible idea, terrible,terrible, terrible.
It is killing his family, butit's also killing his legacy and
it's killing his promise thatGod has given him.
And what God is basicallysaying is do you love me more
(14:52):
than the promises that I'vegiven you?
Do you love me more than whatyou're hoping to get out of the
relationship that you have withme?
And do you see what I'm sayingthere?
Because I think one of thethings were the promises that
God gave good, they were anabsolute good.
And God comes back and he sayswill you sacrifice those for our
relationship?
You see what I'm saying there?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, yeah, it starts to get into this idea that
idolatry happens when wemisunderstand why we've been
given things by God.
The objective is to glorify Godand demonstrate our faith in
him by the things that he hasgiven.
And your example, kenny, is Godsaying I've given you this son,
now I'm asking you to give himback to me.
(15:32):
Well, there's where theidolatry kicks in.
I receive, I don't give.
I receive it from you, but I'mnot willing to give it back to
you.
It's like it was yours, god,but now it's mine.
And that's where idolatrybegins to kick in.
That replacement here's kind ofa side point on this and maybe
(15:53):
we can go this direction becauseI think it affects us
religiously.
One of the idols of the OldTestament that we know really
well is the golden calf.
I mean, everybody knows thestory in Exodus and you can
check this out.
It's not important.
You agree with me here.
Only you admit that I'm correcton this, but I'm not convinced
that the golden calf was areplacement for the Yahweh God,
(16:15):
right.
That's a bridge too far, thatthey said hey we no longer
believe that there is a God whodelivered us, who provides for
us.
Let's take our earrings andmake a chunk of metal and that's
our new provider.
It's just, I can't go there.
He was too great.
I'm convinced they werereplacing Moses.
He'd been on the mountain 40days.
(16:36):
They see God, they love God,they want to pursue God, but the
way that they're being asked todo it is to sacrifice.
They're just waiting.
It's been over a month and we'rewaiting on this guy.
We don't know when he's goingto come back.
So here's what we're going todo.
We still love God.
We still want to communicatewith God.
Do we still love God?
(16:59):
We still want to communicatewith God and we want him to
bless us, but this Moses conceptis not working for us.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to make golden calf.
I believe that the golden calfis a replacement of the mediator
, but it was still idolatry.
So idolatry was not replacingGod with something that is now
God.
It can also be replacing God'splan, replacing God's will.
(17:21):
You say God, I see how you wantme to be.
I see you want me to be giving.
I see you want me to go toworship and be with God's people
.
I see that you want me to besharing Jesus with others, but
those are really not great forme.
So I have another.
I'm still, it's still about you.
God still love you, but I havethis, um, this different way
(17:41):
that I'm going to do it thatjust so happens to really fit
the way that I would like to doit.
That's idolatry too.
Yeah, so idolatry is.
It's more than just replacingGod with something else.
It's replacing the will and theway of God, which is something
that is designed to fit me, notdesigned to glorify.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Him.
Yeah, I agree with what you'resaying there.
I think one of the things is weoften put things—we use our own
judgment to say, well, I mean,god didn't really mean this.
So I mean, obviously he didn'treally want us to follow Moses,
(18:22):
he really wants us to follow him.
So what we're going to do hereis we're going to get back to
God here, but Moses is obviouslygone, so we're just not going
to be able to, and we've heardall these strange things going
on on the mountain.
So moses may be dead at thispoint.
So we just need to and now it'swe're doing this the best that
(18:44):
we can.
God, we're just.
We're just.
Here are the decisions that wemade.
Will you please rubber stampthese decisions?
Do you see what I'm saying?
Is that what you're saying,emerson?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, idolatry is quick fix, it's ready-made, it
has no real power, but itrequires very little patience,
and I think that's a bet some ofus are willing to take.
Maybe, if I put my focus onthis thing, maybe I will or will
not get a payoff, but at leastI can do it right now.
And that was the whole point.
Is patience patiently followingme.
(19:17):
Wait the 40 days.
You need to learn to wait.
So I think idolatry, whether itcomes in the form of money,
time, energy or religiouscompromise, is generally a lack
of patience in the way the onetrue God operates, and that's
how it slowly shifts to servingourselves instead of Him.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, what are some other good things in and of
themselves that are good things,that can become idols?
I mean, we've already talkedabout family.
We've even talked aboutfiguring out different ways that
undoubtedly these things aregood for God.
I mean, I came up with them,but undoubtedly God will accept
(19:59):
these things.
What are some other things thatcan in and of themselves be
good things but, when put in theplace of God, become their own
idols?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, you know we could make a list, but I think
it's just everything it says.
I get up in the morning and Ithink I need to live to the
glory of the Lord today.
I need to find a way to use myblessings and my challenges in
some way to Ephesians 1, to thepraise of his glory.
And if I get up in the morningand I don't think about that, I
(20:30):
don't think about how do I useall of this to glorify God.
Idolatry has become the theme ofthe day, no matter what you're
doing, because now everythingyou're doing today is about you
getting through the day, whatyou can get out of it, just sort
of stopping those, you know,plugging those holes with quick
fixes instead of appreciatingthat those holes might be useful
(20:52):
to help you and I don't knowlike anything, and that's what
we want people to get.
Idolatry, clearly immorality,things that the scripture speaks
against, are idols, but thedevil would love for you to
think that idols can only beterrible things, which is the
nature of your question.
It's not an idol if it's good,if it's a spouse, if it's a job
(21:16):
you love, if it's a nice savingsaccount, if it's a hobby, then
it can't be an idol if it's notungodly.
But whatever an idol is bydefinition, anything that's
fulfilling God's purpose foryour life.
That's not God is an idol, andin that way we have to set the
(21:39):
tone categorically towards Godevery morning, because otherwise
anything and everything canslip in and take that on.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Right and one of the ones and this is my opinion, I'm
not going to put this opinionin your mouth I think things
like being a righteous person,in other words, being so proud
that I have learned how to doexactly the right thing, and
part of that is the pride ofrighteousness.
Look, I think one of the thingsthat God is I think Jesus is
(22:09):
clearly condemning with thePharisees is you guys think
you're right with the Pharisees?
Is you guys think you're rightand what you're missing is the
relationship with God?
I think that's, and I'm notgoing to speak for you, I'll
just speak for me.
I like being right, emerson.
(22:31):
I like knowing the right answer.
I like doing the right things.
I like being on the right sideof history.
I like, look, you just look atthis in so many different ways,
but I don't.
Jesus came for people who knewthey weren't doing the right
(22:56):
thing, who knew that they neededa Savior, that they needed a
physician.
Do you see what I'm saying?
Do you agree with this?
Feel free to disagree.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
No, yeah, of course, everything boils down to self.
That's what's so fascinatingabout idle conversations.
You can say it's any number ofthings, but really life forever,
especially, I feel like it'sespecially true in our time and
culture, but probably in everytime and culture it really boils
down to either God rules or yourule.
(23:28):
It's about you or it's abouthim about him and the thing
about putting faith in our ownrighteousness.
Here's what's really cool aboutthat.
If you can convince yourself todo it, if you put faith in your
relationship with God and howyou're doing it, then that means
you don't have to change.
You don't have to changeanything.
You're right, kenny.
You just keep doing what you'recomfortable doing and God loves
(23:53):
it and it's all about him.
It's not about you, it's don'teven bother yourself with that
thought.
It's you're great, but youdon't have to change.
You don't have to bend the kneefrom any position that you
don't want to take becauseyou're right, and you don't have
to sacrifice anything, becauseeverything you're currently
sacrificing is the modelsacrificer.
You know that.
That's the problem with thingslike righteousness and faith
(24:18):
when they become an idol.
How do you know it?
It's like I mentioned a bit agowhen God asks you to sacrifice
it or change it.
You're reluctant to do sobecause you've reached this
place.
And you're exactly right.
It's the Pharisees.
The Pharisees had a form ofreligion that fit them well.
They had cultivated it overtime, they had molded it like a
piece of stone into an idol.
(24:39):
They had it exactly like theyliked it.
It serviced them very well.
It fit their tendencies.
It elevated them over others,which they liked, and people
liked that.
Jesus comes in and says howabout we change everything?
How about we start talkingabout heart?
How about we start talkingabout how you treat other people
and opening your home?
And how about we startworshiping God instead of the
(25:01):
Sabbath?
How about we?
And they're like we're notchanging, so we're going to kill
you, we are so not changingthat we're going to reject you.
And he said yeah, you've beendoing that for a long time with
the prophets.
Even our own sort of religiosity, our own faith, becomes an idol
when the way it is right now isfilling this gap in our heart,
(25:25):
making us feel great.
And even when God himself comesin through scripture or through
providence or people and sayschange that, yeah, sacrifice
that, yeah, give that positionup.
And we're like we can't do thatand we feel very noble about it
, but now our own religion isidolatrous, when it is the end
(25:51):
instead of God and glorifyingGod and being shaped by God.
I think a great way to look atthat is just if you've been a
long-term Christian, are youstill growing?
Are you still changing?
Do you still find out how wrongyou are about things?
If you're, like no, pretty muchfound home plate.
Then, man, open up the gospelsand read them again, because
(26:11):
Jesus is, he's always going tobe the Lord, and he's going to
prove it by poking on you a lotand asking you to change for him
.
And that's when you choose Isit my religion, that's my God,
or is Jesus my God?
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, I think I use the parable of the prodigal son
a lot.
I think the characters in thereare pretty obvious the older
brother.
If you've never read theprodigal son, go out and read it
.
It's in Luke.
It's a short story.
(26:45):
I want to say it's about 10verses.
It doesn't take a long time toread it.
(27:15):
And there are three maincharacters.
There's a dad, there's two sons.
There's a younger son that sayshis money and comes back home
with his tail tucked between hislegs.
The older son is upset that hisdad is happy that his son is
back.
And the older son has beenrighteous and has said I've done
everything that you've everwanted me to do and yet you're
(27:38):
not excited about who I am.
And when you start thinkingabout that story, jesus is.
The older son is obviously thePharisees.
When you look at the context ofthat verse, he's talking to
Pharisees and they would haverecognized that they're talking
about the Pharisees.
And one of the things that Iappreciate about that older son
is it is nowhere disputed inthere that the older son did
(28:01):
anything wrong.
He was basically resting on hisrighteousness.
The idea behind that I will saythat there is a larger thing
that he did wrong is that hebasically sacrificed the
relationship with his brotherand to a certain extent, I would
say he sacrificed therelationship with his dad.
(28:22):
I think he worshipped his dad'sstuff more than he worshipped
his dad, and the father in thatstory is obviously God.
(28:48):
I don't think anybody shouldworship their physical dad, but
one of the things that I wouldsay is, when you look at who
righteousness with good and goodstuff, which is exactly the
problem discussed in Job you seewhat I'm saying here, emerson.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yeah, I'm so glad you brought up that story.
I think it helps us move in alittle bit of a different
direction, one that I hope thatwe would go to, because when our
righteousness becomes our God,it gets shown very clearly in
the way we judge and labelothers.
We take on the role of God.
You cannot adopt a faith ofyour own that is independent of
(29:22):
God and not eventually try tobecome the judge.
I think about that story in abunch of different ways, but one
is I mean, what if the dad hadbeen out of town the day the
brother approached and the onlyperson he found was the older
brother?
He would have been scathed andrebuked.
He would not have representedthe judgment of God.
He would have represented ajudgment on his brother that
(29:43):
felt right to him, that he couldjustify with eight reasons, and
none of them would be accurateto the judgments, the mercy and
the grace of the father.
Here at Lindell we just finishedwith Jonah.
We did a 12 week study onWednesday nights on Jonah and
came out of a book I found.
I found a Tim Keller book in anold library and I read the first
(30:05):
fit.
I always like find a book under$5, read the first 50 pages and
see if it sticks.
And so I sat down and he saidin the first chapter.
He said Jonah.
He said you know the story ofthe prodigal son, which we do.
He said Jonah is both brothers.
I said that's it.
I'm buying this book Like youhad me at the beginning.
Jonah was the brother who ranfrom God when God told him what
to do.
But he's also the secondbrother who, when the people
(30:33):
repented, he was mad about it.
He didn't want them to repent.
And there was this line in thatbook, that boy I hesitate to
even put it out there because Ifeel like it'd take a long time
to kind of dissect.
But when you need God to issuea certain judgment on others, to
validate yourself, that hasbecome an idol.
The judgment you demand, you'velabeled someone, you've decided
(30:56):
they aren't worthy of mercy, oryou've decided they haven't
truly asked forgiveness, oryou've decided they need a
certain consequence, and that is, you've not only taken on the
faith of God as your own.
Now you are now God yourselfand you're going to make
judgments.
You're going to decide who's.
And that's what Jonah did.
Jonah took on from God theright to judge others and he
(31:17):
decided these people aren'tworthy to be taught, they're not
worthy to be forgiven andthey're not worthy to be saved.
And that's what the olderbrother did.
And so now here's the progress.
Let me recap this I thinkidolatry happens in three ways.
There's level one, which is youreplace God with other things
to fill the void in your life.
Number two is you don't replaceGod, but you replace the way
(31:38):
you get to God with what worksfor you.
And number three is you take onthe wrath and judgment of God
and you need it to be a certainway.
If God listen, if God needs todo something a certain way to
validate judgments you've made,then that outcome has become
(31:59):
your idol, not the God whoprovided it.
God can say, god can dowhatever he pleases.
I need to be open to hisguidance, not my own conclusion.
So I think some of our ownconclusions and judgments.
We talked a lot about peoplemaking labels about others and
canceling others, all theseterminology that's popular in
our culture.
They think they're making thegreat, right decision, but that
(32:22):
decision is an idol because youdon't speak for God on those
things, who reads hearts and allthat.
So that's sort of level three.
Idolatry is when you'vebasically taken on the scepter
of the Lord to carry out hisjudgments and his conclusions on
his behalf.
That's replacing him withyourself and that's idolatry.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, I agree.
I think there were probablysome Pharisees I think Paul was
one of them who, with all goodconscience, thought he was
defending the right thing.
He just wasn't.
And I think one of the thingsthat happened to him is people
(33:04):
who he admired, who he thoughtwere the very best people and I
have no reason to to to believethat, that these weren't guys
that were sincere, that theseguys had all the answers.
And again that road to Damascusmoment, where Paul realizes
(33:25):
that the conclusion that hereached, as innocent as as he is
because that's basically one ofthe things he says which is the
entire time that I worshipedGod as a Jew, as a Christian, I
did everything in goodconscience.
He was just wrong and at somepoint he got to the point where
(33:47):
he recognized it's God that I'mworking against.
I have replaced God withsomething else.
You see what I'm saying there,emerson.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Yeah, precisely the point we're making.
If God wants to change, youhumble, you open your eyes to
things, and that means you'regoing to have to abandon
something that you've said aboutsomeone.
Or you're going to have toabandon something that you've
said about someone, or you'regoing to have to apologize for
taking on judgment that isn'tyour own.
If you're saying I can't dothat, then there is idolatry in
(34:22):
your heart and it is.
It is a religious sort ofself-centered idolatry.
I was thinking about wheresince we're kind of talking
about brethren a little bit andthe older brother, younger
brother I was doing the dailyBible read here in James just
this week, and the whole contextis about humility.
That's the whole idea is, ifwe're prideful, god's going to
bring us low, because pride isreally a self-exaltation into a
(34:45):
place that God deserves.
And yet if we're humble and weput him first, he's going to
come in and do all the greatthings that he does.
But when he applies that, heapplies it in this way Do not
speak against one another,brethren.
He who speaks against a brotheror judges his brother speaks
against the law and judges thelaw.
If you judge the law, you'renot a doer of the law, you're a
judge of it.
There's only one lawgiver andjudge, the one who is able to
(35:10):
save and to destroy.
But who are you?
Who judge your neighbor?
That, who are you idea is youhave elevated yourself into a
position reserved only for thecreator, god.
God judges the wrath.
I was preaching.
The other day I got to preachup in Oregon.
It was really cool, but we weredoing 1 Timothy 2 about men.
Lift up holy hands in prayerwithout wrath or dissension.
That word wrath men in everyplace, without wrath, wrath.
(35:34):
There is throughout the NewTestament, a word generally
reserved for God.
God gets that, god dispenseswrath.
I don't.
I don't get to make decisionsbecause my decisions will often
be affected by my own bias andmy own thoughts and whatever.
So if I need certain outcomesand, by the way, that was Jonah,
jonah needed that city to fryhe needed, he even stuck around
(35:58):
after God's judgment, just towatch.
He wanted to wait at least 41days to see if maybe we get a
Sodom and Gomorrah outcome andhe can be excited.
He needed and I'm just going toput this in a way that may only
touch a few people's hearts.
If you need someone to be inhell in the end to validate
yourself and your faith and yourjudgments, then just be careful
(36:22):
, because somewhere along theway you've elevated your
judgments into the place ofjudging.
You've taken on God's seat andwhen God comes in judgment,
you'd be very surprised.
I've said a lot got to say itthis week in Oregon too but like
I used to be really concernedthat in the judgment I'd be
standing with someone and goingthis is my brother, I accept him
(36:42):
and have Jesus standing againsthim, which would be a very
precarious place.
But I'm more concerned.
I am concerned about that, butI'm more concerned with, in the
end, there being someone thatI've said is lost.
My conclusions have said thisperson and I will not listen
carefully.
We're not going to be ineternity together.
It's not going to happen Right,and we get to the judgment and
(37:04):
Jesus is standing next to him.
What does that mean?
Yeah, I made Jesus choose.
I took on God's role and Icreated a religion that demanded
a chasm between that person andme, and Jesus awarded me that
chasm, except that guy's inheaven and I'm not.
Be careful.
Replacing God yes.
(37:25):
Be careful.
Creating your own path to Godyes, but be careful becoming God
.
Be really careful with that,because that is an elevated and
very dangerous form of idolatry.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
There's a certain sense of surrender that you have
to have when you're going to bea Christian Again.
We can go back to Job, whereJob basically says even if God
slays me, I'll still trust him.
Even if God slays me, I'llstill trust him.
The sense of surrender of theprodigal son who says you know
(38:03):
what, anything you guys decideto do to me, I deserve, whatever
it is I need to do to be backin this house, that's what I
need to do and I'll be happy todo it.
The sense of surrender thatPaul has when he can't talk and
when he can't see and he saysyou know, just just whatever's
going to happen here, that's,that's just what's going to have
to happen here.
Or even on his missionaryjourneys, where he's basically
the snot is beat out of him andhe keeps on going back and he
(38:25):
just basically says look, I, Iknow y'all are going to have to
beat me up again, but guess what?
I'm just going to have to bebeat up again because I can't
stop doing this.
Or the apostles who say youknow what, if you guys need to
throw us in prison, I guessyou're going to have to throw us
in prison because we just can'tstop doing this thing that
(38:54):
impresses me about all thosecharacters is that was not their
will.
They didn't get to dictate theterms on which they were
received.
They did not get to dictate the.
And I think, when it comes downto what is idolatry really and
you kind of made allusion tothis it's wanting to control
things that you'd love tocontrol.
And talk about a dumb animal.
You've got a crop that if thatcrop doesn't make next year,
(39:18):
your family isn't fed, and Iunderstand the fear in that.
And if sacrificing something toa statue makes you feel better,
I would probably do the samething.
There's a lot of insurance that, if it's real or if it's not
real, I'd like that insurance.
I'd like that feeling that Ihave done everything that I can
(39:42):
in order to make sure that myfamily is fed next year.
And I guess one of the thingsyou're saying is and not just
you.
And I guess one of the thingsyou're saying is and not just
you God doesn't give us thosepromises.
He promises that he will takecare of us, but we don't get to
dictate the terms that we'retaking care of.
You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Emerson yeah, wouldn't that be great.
You know we dictate the terms.
I dictate my own terms, yeah,but then who's God?
Now, you know, that's the wholepoint, I think, just as we kind
of get to the end of this Imentioned to you at the very
beginning, there are lots ofthings that we're just missing
that we want.
We want peace, we want purpose,we want happiness, we want a
sense of belonging.
But if the goal is to get, ifthat becomes your daily goal to
(40:26):
get up, how do I fill this?
How do I get this?
God does want to provide thosethings, but that's a really
dangerous place to begin,because you're going to face a
couple of tough questions.
One how far from God am Iwilling to go to get it?
How much compromise of God am Iwilling to put in here to go
and fill this?
So now I am the power and I amthe purpose.
(40:50):
I'm going to do a lot of workto make myself happy.
Boy, I'm God, all over thatthing.
And the way that you know howit's going is when God asks you
to do things you don't want todo, when God asks you to give up
things that you'd rather keep,when you have to choose between
his outstretched hand callingfrom you or your tight fist
(41:12):
holding onto it.
I mean, I just don't thinkthere's a truer tell.
I don't think that it could besin.
And you know what?
There's a podcast episode now.
There could be sin giving upsin but we're not talking to
those people today.
We're talking to people whohold a very good thing in their
hand that they worked reallyhard to get and that seems to be
filling that void within them.
And now your story of Abraham.
Now God's just going to ask meto give it to him.
(41:34):
Then you find out who this isall really about.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
The one who is asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac
loves both Abraham and Isaac.
He's not asking us to do thingsthat we cannot do.
He's asking us to do thingsthat we can do.
He's asking us to do thingsthat we can do and learn how to
trust him more.
The true problem with idolatryis you will run out of yourself
(42:00):
really fast If you will give itto God.
You can't run out of that.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
This gets into a really cool category that I
don't have the ability toexplain.
But you know, with dumb idolsof the old Testament they had no
real power.
It was all very mental, you knowit was if we set up this
outside power and then it rainstomorrow week, I don't know,
just all kind of worked for them, but it there was no real power
in those things.
And the thing about God isthere is real power.
(42:28):
Uh, my son Luke did a littleLord Supper talk last week about
the woman who bled for 12 yearsand then reached out and
touched Jesus' coat and thepower went from it.
Just the power just rushed fromhim to her, a power greater
than her, and I think about inEphesians 1, the power he prays
that our eyes will be opened tothe power of God, to those who
(42:48):
believe Like this isn't justabout a construct that works.
This is about a universecreator with all power, presence
and knowledge, who does and cando things greater than you.
Dr Phil, you know I love my oldDr Phil line People do it their
way.
(43:08):
And he'd just say he wouldn'tchastise them for the path, that
he'd just say how's thatworking out for you?
And he always knew the answerTerrible.
So be careful of realizing it'sa good step that I can't make
this life what it ought to be ofmy own power Awesome.
But be careful of that secondstep where you go out and
construct a system that will,because it's still powerless.
(43:32):
True faith in the Lord andbelief in the Lord is that his
limitless power and knowledgeand love is going to do
incredible things.
Now they may not be the thingyou want that's the thing Right
and you may have to wait 40 daysat the foot of the mountain and
you may have to offer your own.
But if his power is everythingwe believe that it is, then he
(43:54):
is our God and we belong to him,and that's the way every day
has got to start, and theneverything else will fit into
place.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Well, we've talked a lot about idolatry and really, I
think what you and I both kindof landed on is that idolatry is
really substituting ourselvesor something that we want to
trust in that is less thanperfect.
That will ultimately fail us.
I end all of my podcasts withbe good and do good.
(44:24):
What's good about keeping Godin his place?
Keeping God?
Speaker 2 (44:29):
in his place.
From a faith standpoint, Jesusis the way, the truth and the
life, and he's the only way toget where you really want to go.
We, we get short sighted andthings that we want, but what we
want is we want a life of peaceand purpose and we want to live
forever in glory.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Right, mm-hmm, yeah, so, um, yeah, I would only add
(46:25):
one thing, and the one who isholding that big bucket of
blessing loves you.
He really wants to give it toyou.
If you'll require that love,he'll give it to you.
All right, emerson, as always,thank you.
I really appreciate what youhad to say about this.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
It's been too long.
Kenny, I really love talking toyou and you guys don't get to
see his pretty face, but I getto see him on on video.
Lord willing, I'll be inFlorida a little later this year
, a couple times maybe, so a cupof coffee on me when I get
there.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
I'm up for it.
I didn't really introduce Chrisbefore we started talking.
Chris is an evangelist inLindale, texas, and he's married
to his wife, summer, and hassome children of his own.
Chris is somebody who I'veknown for a long time and he's
become a very good friend.
I appreciate who Chris is andwhat he does.
(47:19):
I know I can't speak for you,but I can definitely speak for
me.
I have a bigger problem withidolatry than I think I do.
In other words, there are a lotof things that I think are in
and of themselves good and Iwould never, ever consider them
to be idols, but in many waysthey just are.
I think this is an importantconversation.
By the way, that interpretationof the prodigal son is
(47:42):
something that I stole partiallyfrom a good friend of mine,
edwin Crozier.
Edwin was the one who turned meon to that.
Both boys really had the sameproblem they didn't want the
father, they just wanted thefather's stuff.
He's right.
I think he makes a good pointand it's something that I'm
stealing, but hopefully notstealing without giving proper
citation.
(48:02):
Edwin's a smart guy and I don'tmind stealing from him at all.
He's also a good friend, by theway, if you want to hear that
conversation.
It's on a three-part seriesfrom Hal Hammond's podcast,
citizens of Heaven.
I enjoyed having thatconversation and Hal's a very
good guy Speaking of good guys.
As of today, we are about fouror five days away from having
(48:26):
the Balancing the Christian Life2024 conference.
If you have not signed up forit, you still have time to do
that.
Just go to my website atbalancingthechristianlifecom,
and there are links to both thespeaker grid to show you who's
talking and also places to signup for the conference.
It is free.
There are ways that you canhelp us defray the costs, but it
(48:48):
is a free event.
It is a totally onlineconference, so I'm looking
forward to you being there andseeing other people, other
Christians, thinking aboutsomething similar.
So until next time, let's begood and do good.
In this episode of Balancing the Christian Life, we
talk about idolatry.
Welcome to Balancing theChristian Life.
I'm Dr Kenny Embry.
Join me as we discover how tobe better Christians and people
in the digital age.
So how are you at avoidingidolatry?
(00:42):
I think most of us feel prettyconfident because there's not a
statue of a farmyard animal inour yard or an altar where
you're making sacrifices.
I agree, that's good, but howare you really doing with
avoiding idolatry?
Sure, we know that things likeour phones, money and fame can
become idols, but what aboutthose less obvious things, the
(01:04):
one that seemed perfectlyinnocent?
This is another one of thosebasic ideas of Christianity, and
I chose a good friend of mine,chris Emerson, to talk about
this with.
He and I have talked about whatidolatry truly is in the past,
privately though, and I reallyliked his take on this.
In this conversation, we'llexplore how our very natural and
(01:28):
understandable desires forthings like security or
self-reliance or self-esteem canturn into something that subtly
pushes God out of the picture.
It's a conversation that Ithink will challenge you to
think differently about what itmeans to truly trust God.
We'll talk about threedifferent stages of idolatry.
(01:50):
That comes on later in theconversation and we'll help you
identify those really kind ofsneaky idols that might be
hiding in plain sight.
So let's start here, chris.
What is idolatry?
Let's start here, chris.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
What is idolatry?
What is idolatry?
Well, the sort of standardapproach I think is good is
anything that replaces God.
It's probably our typicaldefinition.
We think of polytheism in theOld Testament and even the New
Testament, times where theycreated a lot of things that
they went to for the answersthat they needed and those
(02:24):
things weren't God.
I think it all feeds out ofpersonal need, and where you go
for the solutions to that need,whether they're perceived or
innate and real, there arethings that every person
believes they need to find.
Maybe you need to find peace,maybe you need to find happiness
, maybe you need to finddirection in life or mission, or
(02:47):
everybody's looking for thosethings, and so there's a
thousand directions to look, andthe gospel says that Jesus
Christ, by the gift of God, isthat answer.
He is not an answer.
He is the answer.
He is the source answer.
(03:07):
He is the answer, he is thesource.
And so when I think of idolatry,it's easy to go.
Well, that was this reallysilly.
You know, old-time thing wherethey worship these created
beings, but you know they werejust looking for answers to
their needs.
And for me, idolatry is whenyou find those things in places
that are not God.
I find a lot of happiness inthings like pickleball, but it's
(03:29):
not a needed thing to solve aproblem.
Christ is my problem solver andI go to him first and foremost.
(03:49):
Anything that answers the deepproblems of your heart and
brings you the peace to live andthrive if it is not God.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
When we look at idolatry in the Old Testament,
really what we think about arestatues of animals.
We think about Aaron and Moses.
We might even think about whatIsaiah has to say, which is
somebody brings in a piece ofwood, they make one half of it
into an idol and they burn theother half for warmth, and I
think one of the things that wefeel pretty safe with is, yeah,
(04:14):
we don't really have any idolslike that.
I mean, I have, I don't know,all day.
Today, I have managed to keepfrom worshiping a cow.
It was a big temptation for metoday, but I just didn't do it,
emerson, and I'm very proud ofmyself.
That's great, yeah, I know, butI think one of the things you
talk about, really anything thattakes the place of God To us in
(04:39):
the 21st century we thinkthat's kind of a silly thing to
do.
Why were they ever tempted toworship cows and frogs and
things that, quite frankly, kindof seem ridiculous?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I don't know the answer to thaton a sort of theological,
godlike level, because thosethings were, like the prophet
said, dumb and they couldn'tspeak and they didn't do
anything.
But it does say that it's builtwithin the human thought and
heart to seek for a poweroutside of ourselves that is
(05:18):
greater, that becomes abenefactor, this idea that there
is some benevolent force.
Remember, like I'm trying tokind of set up here.
I have these needs.
I have things in my life thatare very important that I cannot
create on my own or provide onmy own.
I need a greater outside sourceto do that.
(05:38):
So if I turn to the God ofheaven, it is provided.
It is provided on his timescale, it is provided in ways that he
sees fit.
You can't just look to thegreat God of heaven for the
blessings, but not the authorityand the leadership.
So polytheism said let's just goout and make that happen on our
own.
Let's invest our hearts in thisGod and this God and all these
(06:03):
different gods that serviceparticular parts of our lives.
It says that if we can createan external, greater force, now
the problem is we're creating anexternal great you can't like.
If you didn't have the power toprovide it for yourself, then
you don't have the power tocreate a God to provide it to
you.
It's all very silly, but I alsothink it's interesting to see
(06:23):
the poly side of it, that youknow there was a God for the
harvest and there was a God forfertility and there was a God
for sunlight, and this relatesto us a little bit.
Nobody would say I'll go outand create a force to give me
blessings and multiple forces.
But you know, idolatry todaydoes look like that.
(06:44):
If you listed, like, the topfive needs of your life, you
know provisions or peace or ahappy home, there are plenty of
non-God things out there thatyou can devote yourself to that
will seem like they will plugthat hole, like they will, even
though you know they'reinanimate, you know they're not
a, you're not God.
(07:05):
They will answer it, but you'llalways need a bunch of them.
You know you'll need um Imentioned pickleball.
You'll need uh, you'll needgolf to calm your nerves at work
, but it won't help yourmarriage, right that, you'll
need another God for that.
So, um, I think the thing aboutGod is the one true Yahweh God
is.
He is an active, living,powerful force who has proven
(07:29):
his existence over us and he isthe one stop shop.
He is going to provide forevery deficiency and hole in our
lives, but it's going to haveto be on his timescale, his way,
and maybe we're just not alwaysreally great at giving
ourselves over to that.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I completely agree.
I think one of the other thingsis it's easy for us to point
back and say weren't they idiots?
I cannot believe they fell forthat.
Here they are and they'reworshiping animals.
That is kind of stupid, andlet's just be clear about it.
That is, that's kind of stupid.
Aren't we so much smarter?
And I think we all kind ofrecognize that we probably do
(08:10):
many of the same things.
I'll go ahead and tell you Oneof the idols that I have is my
403B, which is a lot like a 401K.
It is the security, it is thefinancial security that I am
trying to have in my old age,that I am absolutely preparing
for that.
I am making sacrifices for that.
I am trying to have in my oldage.
That I am absolutely preparingfor that.
I am making sacrifices for that.
I am giving a lot of myattention and devotion.
(08:30):
My goodness, my 403b looks a lotlike an idol in some ways,
because I'm doing exactly thesame kinds of things that I
would do for God.
I'm doing a lot of the samekinds of things that I am doing
for, you know, any other kind ofsystem of belief, and I sure am
putting a lot of faith in kindsof things that I am doing for,
you know, any other kind ofsystem of belief and I sure am
putting a lot of faith in that403B and I think one of the
(08:51):
things that that I think it'sit's it's.
It's easy for us to criticizethat which we are divorced from
in time and space and and notsee it as we do it exactly the
same way, just with other names.
You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, boy, if you really believe that, kenny, and
if anybody's listening andthey've got their thing, that is
filling that hole and they feellike they have to have it.
I think that that needs to bereflected in the way you pray.
I think you pray to God and sayif you are my one true source,
rich or poor, healthy or sick,I'm always going to turn to you
(09:31):
and know that you will care forme.
But I have these other thingsthat I think might be becoming
as important as you.
It might be your savingsaccount, it might be your health
, it might be a significantother that can be blessings.
Here's the thing they can beblessings from a benevolent God
(09:52):
if he is the centerpiece of that, but in your prayer you have to
be willing to say if those arethe things upon which my joy is
dependent, then implement yourpower, god, and do something to
break me of that.
That's a scary thing to ask Alot of the idolatry in the Old
(10:12):
Testament.
They weren't really ready togive it up until it fell off a
stand and busted into pieces.
Even then they had to set itback up a few times.
Sometimes your idols have tofail you in order for you to
recognize that you've beenputting your future, your daily
peace in the wrong places.
And how sad it is that theycould just be blessings, just
(10:34):
things God is just handing to us.
But as they begin to replacehim, we need to be willing to
call on him to get involved, tobreak us of that allure.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
What we started talking about a little bit is
something that has to do withthings that are really kind of,
in and of themselves, goodthings.
I'm not going to knock a 401k.
I think a 401k is a wise thingto do for most people.
A 401k is a wise thing to dofor most people.
I think even God himself, insome of the parables and some of
the Proverbs would say you'rean idiot if you do not prepare
(11:09):
for the future, so you need toput some stuff away for the
future.
I think that is honestly somereally good advice, but you know
as well as I do that there area lot of really good things that
can become idols.
There are a lot of really goodthings that can become idols.
So can you think of some thingsthat can become idols for us
that in and of themselvesthey're good things?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
but when they decide that what they're going to do is
push God out of his place nowwe start to have problems.
There's probably several waysto approach this, but the thing
that comes to mind is when Godasks you to give them up or give
them to him or sacrifice them.
Look, whatever's in yoursavings account is fine, but if
you've ever read the book ofLuke, you will get beat up by
the idea that Jesus wants to seeyou share those goods with
other people.
(11:59):
He's fine that you drawsecurity out of them.
Keep some of it if you need to,but be ready, willing and
active in helping and serving.
You know it's an idol whenyou're asked to diminish it for
the sake of God and his glory,and that's of course.
Jesus taught that in the Sermonon the Mount and you cannot
(12:19):
serve God and mammon.
But it's not just money, is it?
No, it's not.
It's scheduling and energy.
It's your family.
I think about husbands lovingyour wives, like Christ loves
the church.
He purifies her, he presentsher to God.
God sanctified Gentlemen, godwants your wife and kids.
(12:40):
He made them, he wants them, hewants them to be his, he wants
them to be purified and he wantsthem in heaven.
They can become your idol ifyou are so engrossed with what
you get out of them and whatthey say about you that God
doesn't get them.
And God demands that yousacrifice what you want out of
(13:03):
it to submit them to him.
And so that's all.
Part of prayer is don't let ourblessings be turned into idols
or curses.
But the practical part is thescripture is constantly
demanding that we take what isof value to us and keep less of
it and give him and others moreof it.
(13:24):
And you know you wouldn't dothat with your God.
You wouldn't give up any partof God for anybody.
Well, if these things becomeyour God, that's how you'll know
it.
You'll have that white knucklegrip where you're hanging on
because your peace, youridentity, your life is directly
tied to them.
Now it's different with moneyand family.
Money you just give it away.
(13:45):
Family, I don't mean you giveup your family.
I don't mean, like Hannah, youtake Samuel at the age of
whatever and give him over.
But there's a lot of nuance tothat that does connect.
And so when you're asked tohand it or them to God that's
how you know, depends how tightyour grip is.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
It even.
I think and I'm not going toput words in your mouth, I'll go
ahead and say this for myselfOne of the stories that I've
grappled with for a long time Ithink everybody does is when God
tells Abraham I need you tokill Isaac, I need you to go
sacrifice Isaac.
And really, I mean one of thethings that Abraham knows is,
yeah, it's killing his son.
(14:28):
Terrible idea, terrible,terrible, terrible.
It is killing his family, butit's also killing his legacy and
it's killing his promise thatGod has given him.
And what God is basicallysaying is do you love me more
(14:52):
than the promises that I'vegiven you?
Do you love me more than whatyou're hoping to get out of the
relationship that you have withme?
And do you see what I'm sayingthere?
Because I think one of thethings were the promises that
God gave good, they were anabsolute good.
And God comes back and he sayswill you sacrifice those for our
relationship?
You see what I'm saying there?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, yeah, it starts to get into this idea that
idolatry happens when wemisunderstand why we've been
given things by God.
The objective is to glorify Godand demonstrate our faith in
him by the things that he hasgiven.
And your example, kenny, is Godsaying I've given you this son,
now I'm asking you to give himback to me.
(15:32):
Well, there's where theidolatry kicks in.
I receive, I don't give.
I receive it from you, but I'mnot willing to give it back to
you.
It's like it was yours, god,but now it's mine.
And that's where idolatrybegins to kick in.
That replacement here's kind ofa side point on this and maybe
(15:53):
we can go this direction becauseI think it affects us
religiously.
One of the idols of the OldTestament that we know really
well is the golden calf.
I mean, everybody knows thestory in Exodus and you can
check this out.
It's not important.
You agree with me here.
Only you admit that I'm correcton this, but I'm not convinced
that the golden calf was areplacement for the Yahweh God,
(16:15):
right.
That's a bridge too far, thatthey said hey we no longer
believe that there is a God whodelivered us, who provides for
us.
Let's take our earrings andmake a chunk of metal and that's
our new provider.
It's just, I can't go there.
He was too great.
I'm convinced they werereplacing Moses.
He'd been on the mountain 40days.
(16:36):
They see God, they love God,they want to pursue God, but the
way that they're being asked todo it is to sacrifice.
They're just waiting.
It's been over a month and we'rewaiting on this guy.
We don't know when he's goingto come back.
So here's what we're going todo.
We still love God.
We still want to communicatewith God.
Do we still love God?
(16:59):
We still want to communicatewith God and we want him to
bless us, but this Moses conceptis not working for us.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to make golden calf.
I believe that the golden calfis a replacement of the mediator
, but it was still idolatry.
So idolatry was not replacingGod with something that is now
God.
It can also be replacing God'splan, replacing God's will.
(17:21):
You say God, I see how you wantme to be.
I see you want me to be giving.
I see you want me to go toworship and be with God's people
.
I see that you want me to besharing Jesus with others, but
those are really not great forme.
So I have another.
I'm still, it's still about you.
God still love you, but I havethis, um, this different way
(17:41):
that I'm going to do it thatjust so happens to really fit
the way that I would like to doit.
That's idolatry too.
Yeah, so idolatry is.
It's more than just replacingGod with something else.
It's replacing the will and theway of God, which is something
that is designed to fit me, notdesigned to glorify.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Him.
Yeah, I agree with what you'resaying there.
I think one of the things is weoften put things—we use our own
judgment to say, well, I mean,god didn't really mean this.
So I mean, obviously he didn'treally want us to follow Moses,
(18:22):
he really wants us to follow him.
So what we're going to do hereis we're going to get back to
God here, but Moses is obviouslygone, so we're just not going
to be able to, and we've heardall these strange things going
on on the mountain.
So moses may be dead at thispoint.
So we just need to and now it'swe're doing this the best that
(18:44):
we can.
God, we're just.
We're just.
Here are the decisions that wemade.
Will you please rubber stampthese decisions?
Do you see what I'm saying?
Is that what you're saying,emerson?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, idolatry is quick fix, it's ready-made, it
has no real power, but itrequires very little patience,
and I think that's a bet some ofus are willing to take.
Maybe, if I put my focus onthis thing, maybe I will or will
not get a payoff, but at leastI can do it right now.
And that was the whole point.
Is patience patiently followingme.
(19:17):
Wait the 40 days.
You need to learn to wait.
So I think idolatry, whether itcomes in the form of money,
time, energy or religiouscompromise, is generally a lack
of patience in the way the onetrue God operates, and that's
how it slowly shifts to servingourselves instead of Him.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, what are some other good things in and of
themselves that are good things,that can become idols?
I mean, we've already talkedabout family.
We've even talked aboutfiguring out different ways that
undoubtedly these things aregood for God.
I mean, I came up with them,but undoubtedly God will accept
(19:59):
these things.
What are some other things thatcan in and of themselves be
good things but, when put in theplace of God, become their own
idols?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, you know we could make a list, but I think
it's just everything it says.
I get up in the morning and Ithink I need to live to the
glory of the Lord today.
I need to find a way to use myblessings and my challenges in
some way to Ephesians 1, to thepraise of his glory.
And if I get up in the morningand I don't think about that, I
(20:30):
don't think about how do I useall of this to glorify God.
Idolatry has become the theme ofthe day, no matter what you're
doing, because now everythingyou're doing today is about you
getting through the day, whatyou can get out of it, just sort
of stopping those, you know,plugging those holes with quick
fixes instead of appreciatingthat those holes might be useful
(20:52):
to help you and I don't knowlike anything, and that's what
we want people to get.
Idolatry, clearly immorality,things that the scripture speaks
against, are idols, but thedevil would love for you to
think that idols can only beterrible things, which is the
nature of your question.
It's not an idol if it's good,if it's a spouse, if it's a job
(21:16):
you love, if it's a nice savingsaccount, if it's a hobby, then
it can't be an idol if it's notungodly.
But whatever an idol is bydefinition, anything that's
fulfilling God's purpose foryour life.
That's not God is an idol, andin that way we have to set the
(21:39):
tone categorically towards Godevery morning, because otherwise
anything and everything canslip in and take that on.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Right and one of the ones and this is my opinion, I'm
not going to put this opinionin your mouth I think things
like being a righteous person,in other words, being so proud
that I have learned how to doexactly the right thing, and
part of that is the pride ofrighteousness.
Look, I think one of the thingsthat God is I think Jesus is
(22:09):
clearly condemning with thePharisees is you guys think
you're right with the Pharisees?
Is you guys think you're rightand what you're missing is the
relationship with God?
I think that's, and I'm notgoing to speak for you, I'll
just speak for me.
I like being right, emerson.
(22:31):
I like knowing the right answer.
I like doing the right things.
I like being on the right sideof history.
I like, look, you just look atthis in so many different ways,
but I don't.
Jesus came for people who knewthey weren't doing the right
(22:56):
thing, who knew that they neededa Savior, that they needed a
physician.
Do you see what I'm saying?
Do you agree with this?
Feel free to disagree.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
No, yeah, of course, everything boils down to self.
That's what's so fascinatingabout idle conversations.
You can say it's any number ofthings, but really life forever,
especially, I feel like it'sespecially true in our time and
culture, but probably in everytime and culture it really boils
down to either God rules or yourule.
(23:28):
It's about you or it's abouthim about him and the thing
about putting faith in our ownrighteousness.
Here's what's really cool aboutthat.
If you can convince yourself todo it, if you put faith in your
relationship with God and howyou're doing it, then that means
you don't have to change.
You don't have to changeanything.
You're right, kenny.
You just keep doing what you'recomfortable doing and God loves
(23:53):
it and it's all about him.
It's not about you, it's don'teven bother yourself with that
thought.
It's you're great, but youdon't have to change.
You don't have to bend the kneefrom any position that you
don't want to take becauseyou're right, and you don't have
to sacrifice anything, becauseeverything you're currently
sacrificing is the modelsacrificer.
You know that.
That's the problem with thingslike righteousness and faith
(24:18):
when they become an idol.
How do you know it?
It's like I mentioned a bit agowhen God asks you to sacrifice
it or change it.
You're reluctant to do sobecause you've reached this
place.
And you're exactly right.
It's the Pharisees.
The Pharisees had a form ofreligion that fit them well.
They had cultivated it overtime, they had molded it like a
piece of stone into an idol.
(24:39):
They had it exactly like theyliked it.
It serviced them very well.
It fit their tendencies.
It elevated them over others,which they liked, and people
liked that.
Jesus comes in and says howabout we change everything?
How about we start talkingabout heart?
How about we start talkingabout how you treat other people
and opening your home?
And how about we startworshiping God instead of the
(25:01):
Sabbath?
How about we?
And they're like we're notchanging, so we're going to kill
you, we are so not changingthat we're going to reject you.
And he said yeah, you've beendoing that for a long time with
the prophets.
Even our own sort of religiosity, our own faith, becomes an idol
when the way it is right now isfilling this gap in our heart,
(25:25):
making us feel great.
And even when God himself comesin through scripture or through
providence or people and sayschange that, yeah, sacrifice
that, yeah, give that positionup.
And we're like we can't do thatand we feel very noble about it
, but now our own religion isidolatrous, when it is the end
(25:51):
instead of God and glorifyingGod and being shaped by God.
I think a great way to look atthat is just if you've been a
long-term Christian, are youstill growing?
Are you still changing?
Do you still find out how wrongyou are about things?
If you're, like no, pretty muchfound home plate.
Then, man, open up the gospelsand read them again, because
(26:11):
Jesus is, he's always going tobe the Lord, and he's going to
prove it by poking on you a lotand asking you to change for him
.
And that's when you choose Isit my religion, that's my God,
or is Jesus my God?
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, I think I use the parable of the prodigal son
a lot.
I think the characters in thereare pretty obvious the older
brother.
If you've never read theprodigal son, go out and read it
.
It's in Luke.
It's a short story.
(26:45):
I want to say it's about 10verses.
It doesn't take a long time toread it.
(27:15):
And there are three maincharacters.
There's a dad, there's two sons.
There's a younger son that sayshis money and comes back home
with his tail tucked between hislegs.
The older son is upset that hisdad is happy that his son is
back.
And the older son has beenrighteous and has said I've done
everything that you've everwanted me to do and yet you're
(27:38):
not excited about who I am.
And when you start thinkingabout that story, jesus is.
The older son is obviously thePharisees.
When you look at the context ofthat verse, he's talking to
Pharisees and they would haverecognized that they're talking
about the Pharisees.
And one of the things that Iappreciate about that older son
is it is nowhere disputed inthere that the older son did
(28:01):
anything wrong.
He was basically resting on hisrighteousness.
The idea behind that I will saythat there is a larger thing
that he did wrong is that hebasically sacrificed the
relationship with his brotherand to a certain extent, I would
say he sacrificed therelationship with his dad.
(28:22):
I think he worshipped his dad'sstuff more than he worshipped
his dad, and the father in thatstory is obviously God.
(28:48):
I don't think anybody shouldworship their physical dad, but
one of the things that I wouldsay is, when you look at who
righteousness with good and goodstuff, which is exactly the
problem discussed in Job you seewhat I'm saying here, emerson.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yeah, I'm so glad you brought up that story.
I think it helps us move in alittle bit of a different
direction, one that I hope thatwe would go to, because when our
righteousness becomes our God,it gets shown very clearly in
the way we judge and labelothers.
We take on the role of God.
You cannot adopt a faith ofyour own that is independent of
(29:22):
God and not eventually try tobecome the judge.
I think about that story in abunch of different ways, but one
is I mean, what if the dad hadbeen out of town the day the
brother approached and the onlyperson he found was the older
brother?
He would have been scathed andrebuked.
He would not have representedthe judgment of God.
He would have represented ajudgment on his brother that
(29:43):
felt right to him, that he couldjustify with eight reasons, and
none of them would be accurateto the judgments, the mercy and
the grace of the father.
Here at Lindell we just finishedwith Jonah.
We did a 12 week study onWednesday nights on Jonah and
came out of a book I found.
I found a Tim Keller book in anold library and I read the first
(30:05):
fit.
I always like find a book under$5, read the first 50 pages and
see if it sticks.
And so I sat down and he saidin the first chapter.
He said Jonah.
He said you know the story ofthe prodigal son, which we do.
He said Jonah is both brothers.
I said that's it.
I'm buying this book Like youhad me at the beginning.
Jonah was the brother who ranfrom God when God told him what
to do.
But he's also the secondbrother who, when the people
(30:33):
repented, he was mad about it.
He didn't want them to repent.
And there was this line in thatbook, that boy I hesitate to
even put it out there because Ifeel like it'd take a long time
to kind of dissect.
But when you need God to issuea certain judgment on others, to
validate yourself, that hasbecome an idol.
The judgment you demand, you'velabeled someone, you've decided
(30:56):
they aren't worthy of mercy, oryou've decided they haven't
truly asked forgiveness, oryou've decided they need a
certain consequence, and that is, you've not only taken on the
faith of God as your own.
Now you are now God yourselfand you're going to make
judgments.
You're going to decide who's.
And that's what Jonah did.
Jonah took on from God theright to judge others and he
(31:17):
decided these people aren'tworthy to be taught, they're not
worthy to be forgiven andthey're not worthy to be saved.
And that's what the olderbrother did.
And so now here's the progress.
Let me recap this I thinkidolatry happens in three ways.
There's level one, which is youreplace God with other things
to fill the void in your life.
Number two is you don't replaceGod, but you replace the way
(31:38):
you get to God with what worksfor you.
And number three is you take onthe wrath and judgment of God
and you need it to be a certainway.
If God listen, if God needs todo something a certain way to
validate judgments you've made,then that outcome has become
(31:59):
your idol, not the God whoprovided it.
God can say, god can dowhatever he pleases.
I need to be open to hisguidance, not my own conclusion.
So I think some of our ownconclusions and judgments.
We talked a lot about peoplemaking labels about others and
canceling others, all theseterminology that's popular in
our culture.
They think they're making thegreat, right decision, but that
(32:22):
decision is an idol because youdon't speak for God on those
things, who reads hearts and allthat.
So that's sort of level three.
Idolatry is when you'vebasically taken on the scepter
of the Lord to carry out hisjudgments and his conclusions on
his behalf.
That's replacing him withyourself and that's idolatry.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, I agree.
I think there were probablysome Pharisees I think Paul was
one of them who, with all goodconscience, thought he was
defending the right thing.
He just wasn't.
And I think one of the thingsthat happened to him is people
(33:04):
who he admired, who he thoughtwere the very best people and I
have no reason to to to believethat, that these weren't guys
that were sincere, that theseguys had all the answers.
And again that road to Damascusmoment, where Paul realizes
(33:25):
that the conclusion that hereached, as innocent as as he is
because that's basically one ofthe things he says which is the
entire time that I worshipedGod as a Jew, as a Christian, I
did everything in goodconscience.
He was just wrong and at somepoint he got to the point where
(33:47):
he recognized it's God that I'mworking against.
I have replaced God withsomething else.
You see what I'm saying there,emerson.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Yeah, precisely the point we're making.
If God wants to change, youhumble, you open your eyes to
things, and that means you'regoing to have to abandon
something that you've said aboutsomeone.
Or you're going to have toabandon something that you've
said about someone, or you'regoing to have to apologize for
taking on judgment that isn'tyour own.
If you're saying I can't dothat, then there is idolatry in
(34:22):
your heart and it is.
It is a religious sort ofself-centered idolatry.
I was thinking about wheresince we're kind of talking
about brethren a little bit andthe older brother, younger
brother I was doing the dailyBible read here in James just
this week, and the whole contextis about humility.
That's the whole idea is, ifwe're prideful, god's going to
bring us low, because pride isreally a self-exaltation into a
(34:45):
place that God deserves.
And yet if we're humble and weput him first, he's going to
come in and do all the greatthings that he does.
But when he applies that, heapplies it in this way Do not
speak against one another,brethren.
He who speaks against a brotheror judges his brother speaks
against the law and judges thelaw.
If you judge the law, you'renot a doer of the law, you're a
judge of it.
There's only one lawgiver andjudge, the one who is able to
(35:10):
save and to destroy.
But who are you?
Who judge your neighbor?
That, who are you idea is youhave elevated yourself into a
position reserved only for thecreator, god.
God judges the wrath.
I was preaching.
The other day I got to preachup in Oregon.
It was really cool, but we weredoing 1 Timothy 2 about men.
Lift up holy hands in prayerwithout wrath or dissension.
That word wrath men in everyplace, without wrath, wrath.
(35:34):
There is throughout the NewTestament, a word generally
reserved for God.
God gets that, god dispenseswrath.
I don't.
I don't get to make decisionsbecause my decisions will often
be affected by my own bias andmy own thoughts and whatever.
So if I need certain outcomesand, by the way, that was Jonah,
jonah needed that city to fryhe needed, he even stuck around
(35:58):
after God's judgment, just towatch.
He wanted to wait at least 41days to see if maybe we get a
Sodom and Gomorrah outcome andhe can be excited.
He needed and I'm just going toput this in a way that may only
touch a few people's hearts.
If you need someone to be inhell in the end to validate
yourself and your faith and yourjudgments, then just be careful
(36:22):
, because somewhere along theway you've elevated your
judgments into the place ofjudging.
You've taken on God's seat andwhen God comes in judgment,
you'd be very surprised.
I've said a lot got to say itthis week in Oregon too but like
I used to be really concernedthat in the judgment I'd be
standing with someone and goingthis is my brother, I accept him
(36:42):
and have Jesus standing againsthim, which would be a very
precarious place.
But I'm more concerned.
I am concerned about that, butI'm more concerned with, in the
end, there being someone thatI've said is lost.
My conclusions have said thisperson and I will not listen
carefully.
We're not going to be ineternity together.
It's not going to happen Right,and we get to the judgment and
(37:04):
Jesus is standing next to him.
What does that mean?
Yeah, I made Jesus choose.
I took on God's role and Icreated a religion that demanded
a chasm between that person andme, and Jesus awarded me that
chasm, except that guy's inheaven and I'm not.
Be careful.
Replacing God yes.
(37:25):
Be careful.
Creating your own path to Godyes, but be careful becoming God
.
Be really careful with that,because that is an elevated and
very dangerous form of idolatry.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
There's a certain sense of surrender that you have
to have when you're going to bea Christian Again.
We can go back to Job, whereJob basically says even if God
slays me, I'll still trust him.
Even if God slays me, I'llstill trust him.
The sense of surrender of theprodigal son who says you know
(38:03):
what, anything you guys decideto do to me, I deserve, whatever
it is I need to do to be backin this house, that's what I
need to do and I'll be happy todo it.
The sense of surrender thatPaul has when he can't talk and
when he can't see and he saysyou know, just just whatever's
going to happen here, that's,that's just what's going to have
to happen here.
Or even on his missionaryjourneys, where he's basically
the snot is beat out of him andhe keeps on going back and he
(38:25):
just basically says look, I, Iknow y'all are going to have to
beat me up again, but guess what?
I'm just going to have to bebeat up again because I can't
stop doing this.
Or the apostles who say youknow what, if you guys need to
throw us in prison, I guessyou're going to have to throw us
in prison because we just can'tstop doing this thing that
(38:54):
impresses me about all thosecharacters is that was not their
will.
They didn't get to dictate theterms on which they were
received.
They did not get to dictate the.
And I think, when it comes downto what is idolatry really and
you kind of made allusion tothis it's wanting to control
things that you'd love tocontrol.
And talk about a dumb animal.
You've got a crop that if thatcrop doesn't make next year,
(39:18):
your family isn't fed, and Iunderstand the fear in that.
And if sacrificing something toa statue makes you feel better,
I would probably do the samething.
There's a lot of insurance that, if it's real or if it's not
real, I'd like that insurance.
I'd like that feeling that Ihave done everything that I can
(39:42):
in order to make sure that myfamily is fed next year.
And I guess one of the thingsyou're saying is and not just
you.
And I guess one of the thingsyou're saying is and not just
you God doesn't give us thosepromises.
He promises that he will takecare of us, but we don't get to
dictate the terms that we'retaking care of.
You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Emerson yeah, wouldn't that be great.
You know we dictate the terms.
I dictate my own terms, yeah,but then who's God?
Now, you know, that's the wholepoint, I think, just as we kind
of get to the end of this Imentioned to you at the very
beginning, there are lots ofthings that we're just missing
that we want.
We want peace, we want purpose,we want happiness, we want a
sense of belonging.
But if the goal is to get, ifthat becomes your daily goal to
(40:26):
get up, how do I fill this?
How do I get this?
God does want to provide thosethings, but that's a really
dangerous place to begin,because you're going to face a
couple of tough questions.
One how far from God am Iwilling to go to get it?
How much compromise of God am Iwilling to put in here to go
and fill this?
So now I am the power and I amthe purpose.
(40:50):
I'm going to do a lot of workto make myself happy.
Boy, I'm God, all over thatthing.
And the way that you know howit's going is when God asks you
to do things you don't want todo, when God asks you to give up
things that you'd rather keep,when you have to choose between
his outstretched hand callingfrom you or your tight fist
(41:12):
holding onto it.
I mean, I just don't thinkthere's a truer tell.
I don't think that it could besin.
And you know what?
There's a podcast episode now.
There could be sin giving upsin but we're not talking to
those people today.
We're talking to people whohold a very good thing in their
hand that they worked reallyhard to get and that seems to be
filling that void within them.
And now your story of Abraham.
Now God's just going to ask meto give it to him.
(41:34):
Then you find out who this isall really about.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
The one who is asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac
loves both Abraham and Isaac.
He's not asking us to do thingsthat we cannot do.
He's asking us to do thingsthat we can do.
He's asking us to do thingsthat we can do and learn how to
trust him more.
The true problem with idolatryis you will run out of yourself
(42:00):
really fast If you will give itto God.
You can't run out of that.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
This gets into a really cool category that I
don't have the ability toexplain.
But you know, with dumb idolsof the old Testament they had no
real power.
It was all very mental, you knowit was if we set up this
outside power and then it rainstomorrow week, I don't know,
just all kind of worked for them, but it there was no real power
in those things.
And the thing about God isthere is real power.
(42:28):
Uh, my son Luke did a littleLord Supper talk last week about
the woman who bled for 12 yearsand then reached out and
touched Jesus' coat and thepower went from it.
Just the power just rushed fromhim to her, a power greater
than her, and I think about inEphesians 1, the power he prays
that our eyes will be opened tothe power of God, to those who
(42:48):
believe Like this isn't justabout a construct that works.
This is about a universecreator with all power, presence
and knowledge, who does and cando things greater than you.
Dr Phil, you know I love my oldDr Phil line People do it their
way.
(43:08):
And he'd just say he wouldn'tchastise them for the path, that
he'd just say how's thatworking out for you?
And he always knew the answerTerrible.
So be careful of realizing it'sa good step that I can't make
this life what it ought to be ofmy own power Awesome.
But be careful of that secondstep where you go out and
construct a system that will,because it's still powerless.
(43:32):
True faith in the Lord andbelief in the Lord is that his
limitless power and knowledgeand love is going to do
incredible things.
Now they may not be the thingyou want that's the thing Right
and you may have to wait 40 daysat the foot of the mountain and
you may have to offer your own.
But if his power is everythingwe believe that it is, then he
(43:54):
is our God and we belong to him,and that's the way every day
has got to start, and theneverything else will fit into
place.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Well, we've talked a lot about idolatry and really, I
think what you and I both kindof landed on is that idolatry is
really substituting ourselvesor something that we want to
trust in that is less thanperfect.
That will ultimately fail us.
I end all of my podcasts withbe good and do good.
(44:24):
What's good about keeping Godin his place?
Keeping God?
Speaker 2 (44:29):
in his place.
From a faith standpoint, Jesusis the way, the truth and the
life, and he's the only way toget where you really want to go.
We, we get short sighted andthings that we want, but what we
want is we want a life of peaceand purpose and we want to live
forever in glory.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Right, mm-hmm, yeah, so, um, yeah, I would only add
(46:25):
one thing, and the one who isholding that big bucket of
blessing loves you.
He really wants to give it toyou.
If you'll require that love,he'll give it to you.
All right, emerson, as always,thank you.
I really appreciate what youhad to say about this.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
It's been too long.
Kenny, I really love talking toyou and you guys don't get to
see his pretty face, but I getto see him on on video.
Lord willing, I'll be inFlorida a little later this year
, a couple times maybe, so a cupof coffee on me when I get
there.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
I'm up for it.
I didn't really introduce Chrisbefore we started talking.
Chris is an evangelist inLindale, texas, and he's married
to his wife, summer, and hassome children of his own.
Chris is somebody who I'veknown for a long time and he's
become a very good friend.
I appreciate who Chris is andwhat he does.
(47:19):
I know I can't speak for you,but I can definitely speak for
me.
I have a bigger problem withidolatry than I think I do.
In other words, there are a lotof things that I think are in
and of themselves good and Iwould never, ever consider them
to be idols, but in many waysthey just are.
I think this is an importantconversation.
By the way, that interpretationof the prodigal son is
(47:42):
something that I stole partiallyfrom a good friend of mine,
edwin Crozier.
Edwin was the one who turned meon to that.
Both boys really had the sameproblem they didn't want the
father, they just wanted thefather's stuff.
He's right.
I think he makes a good pointand it's something that I'm
stealing, but hopefully notstealing without giving proper
citation.
(48:02):
Edwin's a smart guy and I don'tmind stealing from him at all.
He's also a good friend, by theway, if you want to hear that
conversation.
It's on a three-part seriesfrom Hal Hammond's podcast,
citizens of Heaven.
I enjoyed having thatconversation and Hal's a very
good guy Speaking of good guys.
As of today, we are about fouror five days away from having
(48:26):
the Balancing the Christian Life2024 conference.
If you have not signed up forit, you still have time to do
that.
Just go to my website atbalancingthechristianlifecom,
and there are links to both thespeaker grid to show you who's
talking and also places to signup for the conference.
It is free.
There are ways that you canhelp us defray the costs, but it
(48:48):
is a free event.
It is a totally onlineconference, so I'm looking
forward to you being there andseeing other people, other
Christians, thinking aboutsomething similar.
So until next time, let's begood and do good.
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