QUICK THOUGHT: The Idol of Self

This is another experiment, and I talk about the idol of self.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Balancing the Christian Life.
Quick Thoughts.
I'm Dr Kenny Embry.
Join me as we figure out whatit means to live as Christians.
Idolatry in the Old Testament iseasy to identify because
anytime the Israelites got stuff, they started making things to
worship.
The first three commandmentsare specific about condemning
the particulars of idolatry.

(00:29):
They could have no other gods,they couldn't make anything that
was supposed to represent a god, and they should not enter into
a commitment to God lightly.
I've done a pretty good job ofavoiding making a golden calf or
bowing down before a bull, butif idolatry is replacing God
with something that shouldn't bethere, well, my idol isn't

(00:51):
barnyard animals but the facelooking back at me when I'm
shaving.
Selfishness is a pretty elusiveidol because it loves to
masquerade itself as Christianvirtue.
In Luke 18, jesus tells a storyabout a Pharisee and a tax
collector who went to the templeto pray.
You already know the outcome tothis parable, but let me get

(01:15):
you to slow down a little beforeyou jump to Jesus' conclusion.
First, both men went to thetemple to talk to God, whom they
both believed in.
Both also believed God was incontrol and that God changes

(01:37):
things.
Good, that's the right actionand the right motivation for
both these guys.
And here is the prayer of thePharisee God, I thank you that I
am not like other menextortioners, unjust adulterers

(02:00):
and even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all that I get.
First, did Jesus say he wasn'tdoing exactly what he said he
was?
Frankly, I don't do many of thethings this Pharisee did, like

(02:20):
fasting or tithing.
Second, the Pharisee expressedgratitude.
He was truly thankful.
What made him thankful?
Well, it was because he wasfollowing God's instructions on
fasting, giving of his income,being fair in business, not

(02:43):
being a liar, not being sexuallypromiscuous and, unlike the
reputation of the tax collectors, not being someone who betrayed
the children of God by makingalliances with a corrupt
government like Rome.
Tax collectors had a badreputation, mostly because they

(03:03):
deserved a bad reputation.
They did bad things thatsometimes got other people
killed.
What part of this are youagainst?
Are you against the Phariseebeing grateful?
Are you against telling thetruth?
Are you against devotingyourself to God by fasting?

(03:23):
Are you against refraining frombeing sexually promiscuous?
Look, the Pharisee was gratefulfor being someone who could
keep God's law, which gave him agood character.
I realize Jesus invented thischaracter, but I know lots of
people like this who aregrateful to God that following
his law makes us better people.

(03:45):
I know them because I'm one ofthem.
I think following God's lawskeeps me from a host of problems
.
But what is Jesus' criticism?
The Pharisee trusted he couldand had kept God's law.
He could and had kept God's lawand because he kept God's law,

(04:07):
he was doing the right thing.
And that made him righteous.
By the way, that's right.
Righteousness, by definition,is doing the right thing.
And that made him proud.
That gave him confidence.
Did you notice, jesus said?
He stood by himself and prayed.

(04:30):
He came to God, confident inhis standing with God.
He was ready to be judgedbecause he looked at God's
standards and judged he had donewell.
His problem was his confidencein his ability or, as the
passage tells us, he trusted inhis own righteousness and

(04:55):
treated others poorly.
He knew the tax collector nextto him not personally, but only
by reputation of the profession.
The Pharisee's problem wasself-righteousness.
He was so wrapped up in godlyvirtue he had assumed the role
of God himself and judgedhimself righteous.

(05:16):
The easy answer to this is tojudge ourselves by God's
standard instead of our own.
That is absolutely the rightanswer.
But how do you do that?
Was the Pharisee able to seepast his own judgments of how he
interpreted God's law?
Of how he interpreted God's law?

(05:40):
In one of his own defenses,Paul says that he had always
served God in good conscience.
Even when he was doing thewrong thing by killing
Christians, he felt like he wasserving God rightly.
I don't know about you, but Idon't consider myself as good as
Paul.
So are we just doomed?
First of all, remember we arenot saved by righteousness,

(06:06):
we're saved by grace.
We never earn a relationshipwith God.
That relationship is based onthe faith we have in God and the
devotion we have to each other.
Can we sin all the more thatgrace may abound?
No, no, no, no, no.
But if you think you arebehaving yourself into a good

(06:29):
relationship with God, you'remissing the point.
We are sinners because we havesinned.
We are redeemed because Godredeemed us, not because we
haven't sinned.
Second, consider your standards.
There's wisdom in examiningyourself by yourself.
If you measure how well you'rebehaving as a Christian today

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versus how well you were aChristian yesterday, you're
gauging progress.
But you also need to measureyourself against the perfect
standard the standard you willnever measure up to.
You need to know God wellenough to know how far short you
fail.
That still means you have tointerpret God's will, and we

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don't always do that well.
But as you progress in yourrelationship with God, hopefully
you grow in understanding himbetter.
Further, are we open to beingchallenged by even people we
disagree with?
The Pharisees didn't agree withJesus, and that was a problem.

(07:31):
They didn't have a good reasonto disagree with him.
They never checked his facts,they just assumed he had been
wrong.
Because, well, they neverchecked his facts.
They just assumed he had to bewrong.
Because, well, most people whowent against the Jewish leaders
were wrong.
Next, what do we get out of it?

(07:52):
Just because you get praise orrecognition doesn't mean it's
wrong.
When the Israelites obeyed God,they were praised.
That's a very good thing.
But who is doing the praising?
And are we in it to get closerto God, or are we in it to have

(08:13):
someone tell us we're doing theright thing?
Finally, is there someone whoseopinion you trust to challenge
you?
Jesus challenged the Phariseesand Paul.
The Pharisees largely resistedand Paul, blind and mute,
learned how to stop listening tohimself and start listening to

(08:36):
God.
Of all the idols, the idol ofselfishness is the one I fear
most, because it is the idol Ioften recognize least.
Let's take this to God.
God, we often get in our ownway, we mislead ourselves and we
ask that when we are on thewrong road, you would send us

(08:57):
others who challenge ourthinking.
We pray for failure when we areself-deluded.
Help us to never attack othersout of reaction and, even when
we are attacked, to love thosewho are on the assault.
Likewise, help us to be thatfor others.
We all have blind spots when itcomes to being self-righteous.
We do pray for righteousness.

(09:19):
We pray we are right, but helpus to keep our egos in check.
Remind us that being rightsimply means we're closer to you
, but we are not you.
You are truly the only one whois always righteous because you
are always right.

(09:40):
Put us in our place and help usto rely on you more.
Help us to love you more,because you love us even when
we're stupid, even when we failand even when we dethrone you
from where you rightfully belong.

(10:00):
We pray.
We avoid all idolatry, but helpus to avoid worshiping
ourselves.
Idolatry, but help us to avoidworshiping ourselves, because we
cannot have a closerrelationship with you when we
assume your place.
We love you.
Help us to show that more Inour King's name, amen.
Now let's be good and do good.