Here are some good posts addressing idolatry in ministry:
5 Signs You Glorify Self – Paul David Tripp (GC)
5 More Signs You Glorify Self – Paul David Tripp (GC)
Five Questions to Discern Ministry Idolatry – Eric Geiger
Category: Idolatry
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Quotes on Knowing and Loving God – Trevin Wax
What Must You Leave Behind? Kevin DeYoung
Being True to Yourself is Living a Lie – Trevin Wax
These Precious Days – Tim Challies
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day knowing and loving God!
The One True God
In a city full of idols, Paul stood up and proclaimed that there is one true God (Acts 17). And in our world today full of idols, we too must stand up and declare that there is one true God. And this one true God stands far above the idols of our world.
- The one true God is the Creator (v24). The earth and sky, the sun, moon, and stars, every tree, every blade of grass, every animal, every person was made by God. Compare God to the idols of our day – created things every one. Wealth, material things, the newest gadget – all created things. Will you live for, trust in, and seek your significance in the Creator or the created?
- The one true God is the Lord (v24). Over heaven and earth. He reigns over all he has made. He is the king. He rules with unlimited power over his creation. Compare God to our idols with limited power at best. Wealth, stuff, popularity – all with limited power. Will you live for, trust in, and seek your significance in the Lord of unlimited power or an idol of limited power?
- The one true God is self-sufficient (v24-25). He doesn’t need anything or anyone – to exist, to continue, to act. Compare God to our idols that are all fading. Not one will last forever. Our idols rot, rust, and wear out. They are lost, stolen, taxed. Will you live for, trust in, and seek your significance in the self-sufficient God or a fading idol?
- The one true God is the life-giver (v25). He is the source of all – your life, your breath, your strength, your abilities, your wealth – all comes from God. Compare God to our idols which are life-suckers. They suck away our lives as we chase after them, pursue them, trust in them, only to be let down because they cannot satisfy us like we want them to. Will you live for, trust in, and seek your significance in the Life-Giver or a life-sucker?
- The one true God is sovereign (v26). He is in control. He determines when you will live and where. Compare God to our idols which by and large we control, we manipulate. Perhaps that is why we like them – but they are less than us, and can’t give us lasting significance. Will you live for, trust in, and seek your significance in the One who is in control or an idol that we control?
- Finally, the one true God desires a relationship with us (v27). Ponder that. This Creator and Lord who is self-sufficient, life-giving, and sovereign actually desires a relationship with us. He wants us to seek him, to find him, to know him. Compare this God with your idols which don’t care about you at all. Your money doesn’t care about you. Neither do your things, the newest gadget, the latest entertainment. Will you live for, trust in, and seek your significance in the God who cares about you or an idol that couldn’t care less?
Perhaps Isaiah 46 sums it up best. You can choose an idol that you must carry, or you can choose the one true God who will carry you. Your choice.
A World Full of Idols
Athens was full of idols (Acts 17:16). One writer of the day said there were 30,000 statues of gods and goddesses. Quite remarkable, when there were only about 10,000 people. It was a world full of idols.
America too is a world full of idols. Not statues, but false gods aplenty. An idol is what we live for, what we trust in. It is the place where we seek significance and fulfillment. And our streets are lined with idols like this. Our media is filled with these kinds of idols. Wealth, material things, sex, popularity, power, entertainment – all good things in the right context unless we live for them, trust in them, seek significance and fulfillment in them. And many do. We live in a world full of idols.
The people of Athens were obsessed with something new (v21). Sounds like our country. We are obsessed with the newest technological gadget, the latest movie, game, or book, the next fashion, the spirituality of tomorrow. Only tomorrow it will be old. Everything is quickly dated. The new has become one more idol that we live for, trust in, and seek significance, fulfillment, and satisfaction in. And like the other idols of our day, it never satisfies. It leaves us empty, looking for something more.
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
I Bought Some Joy (But Dropped It Down the Stairs) – Tim Challies
My iPhone threatens to be an iDol in my life. It represents so many of the things I value...
How to Have Communion with the Spirit – J.D.Greear
The Christian life is not just about doctrines or spiritual disciplines, but about fellowship with God—koinonia. But how can you experience moments of fellowship with God?
The Abundance of Giving – John MacArthur
God’s Word clearly teaches that our giving is actually a direct pipeline to His blessings.
When My Love Grows Cold – Tim Challies
When my love for the Lord begins to grow cold, I will almost always find that I have not been spending time with him in his Word. When I have not been spending time with him in his Word, I will find that my love has grown cold, or lukewarm, at least.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with God’s people loving, communing with, and giving to the true source of all Joy!
Sandcastles
My family found an incredible sand castle on the beach this past summer. By the time we had left, we had added on to it, making it even bigger. Making sandcastles can be a fun activity on the beach, but eventually the waves or rain will wash them away. What is fun on the beach is tragic in life. Too many people build their lives on things that won’t stand the test of time. They waste their life building sandcastles that won’t last.
Many people build their lives on their own feelings or desires. Rather than build their lives on what God says has eternal value, they build their lives on what they want to do in the moment. They waste their lives building sandcastles that won’t last.
Other people build their lives on things. They live to get more – as much stuff as they can. They lay up for themselves treasures on earth that will rust or rot or break instead of laying up treasures in heaven. They waste their lives building sandcastles that won’t last.
Still others build their lives around fame or popularity. Perhaps it lasts for awhile, but then it’s gone. It is fleeting. And it has no eternal value. They waste their lives building sandcastles that won’t last.
There are many ways to build our lives around things that won’t last, to waste our lives building sandcastles. But Jesus calls us to lay up treasures in heaven. He bids us seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. He calls us to love God with all of our being, and to love the people around us. He bids us to live our lives for his glory instead of our own.
What sandcastles are you building? Isn’t it time you started building something with more substance, something that will stand the test of time?
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Christ Is All – Charles Spurgeon (via Trevin Wax)
This is our soul’s grandest desire, that Jesus’ name be lifted high,
and His throne be set up among the people, to the praise of the glory of His grace.
The Gospel of the Holy Spirit – Trevin Wax
Too many evangelicals see the good news that we are saved from sin and from God’s wrath and stop there. We forget that we are saved for a relationship with God (to know Him and love Him) and for His mission (His redeeming work to seek and save the lost). And it’s the Holy Spirit that enables that relationship and empowers us for mission.
What Sanctification Is and Is Not – J. C. Ryle (via Tim Challies)
An inward spiritual work which the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the Holy Ghost, when He calls him to be a true believer.
The Church and Idolatry – Jared Wilson (via Ligonier Ministries)
On Sundays, our sanctuaries fill with people seeking worship, and not one person comes in set to neutral. We must take great care, then, not to assume that even in our religious environments, where we put the Scriptures under so many noses, that it is Jesus the exalted Christ who is being worshiped.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day truly worshipping our great God!
Passion Points: Idolatry
For your weekend reading, we return to the important issue of idolatry: placing ourselves or something else before God.
We Are Not God – John Piper (via Tim Challies)
But when humans forsake their Maker and love other things more, they become like the things they love—small, insignificant, weightless, inconsequential, and God-diminishing.
Same-Sex Marriage Make a Lot of Sense – Michael Horton
If God exists for our happiness and self-fulfillment, validating our sovereign right to choose our identity, then opposition to same-sex marriage (or abortion) is just irrational prejudice.
Why Idolatry Was (And Is) Attractive – Kevin DeYoung
Can you see the attraction of idolatry? “Let’s see I want a spirituality that gets me lots, costs me little, is easy to see, easy to do, has few ethical or doctrinal boundaries, guarantees me success, feels good, and doesn’t offend those around me.”
That Idol That You Love Doesn’t Love You Back – Justin Buzzard (via Crossway)
Here’s what you need to know about your idol: That idol that you love, it doesn’t love you back. False gods don’t love you. Idols don’t keep their promises. Anything you worship and build your life on other than God will suck the life out of you and destroy you.
Or as Psalm 115:2-8 so well puts it:
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your church family worshipping the one true God!
Passion Points
I was gone the past week to attend the RHMA Small Town Pastor/Wife Conference with my wife. I hope to share some highlights next week. In the meantime, here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
When I Am God – Tim Challies
How life changes when we try to make ourselves God instead of acknowledging the one true God.
Praying Past Our Preferred Outcomes – Nancy Guthrie (via Gospel Coalition)
Related to the post before, am I willing to pray for God’s will in my concerns?
Christ-Centered Accountability – Jared Wilson
A good consideration of helpful and not-so-helpful accountability.
Keep Looking Unto Jesus – J. C. Ryle Quotes
Keep on looking unto Jesus. Faith shall soon be changed to sight, and hope to certainty.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church celebrating the one true God!
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
My Measly Opinion – Marva Dawn (via Trevin Wax) – There is truth that transcends opinion.
Location, Location, Location – Paul Tripp (via Gospel Coalition) – A helpful summary of the daily battle of life – it is all about location.
A Catechism of the Heart – Sinclair Ferguson (via Justin Taylor) – What is the heart, and how do you keep your heart for God?
Like A Bag of Sand – Jared Wilson – How NOT to overcome an idol.
Worship: The Fuel, Fire, Furnace, and Heat – John Piper (via Justin Taylor) – A helpful summary of worship as you prepare for corporate worship tomorrow.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshipping our great God!
Brian J. Mikul 