Idolatry (Part 3)

7-18-10

Our hearts were created ‘sacred-space’; for singleness; devotion.

It’s why our affections (attachments) become like gods to us, because they assume a place reserved for our Creator-God.

● Again, few of us would imagine ourselves dancing around carved images or sacrificing our cat, but we would have the tendency to attach our hearts to things which we rather naively believe will offer us the fulfillment that our hearts desire.

● The Bible calls this tendency, idolatry: quite simply, attaching our hearts to something other than God; looking to something/someone other than God for life: attempting to find in the “created” something reserved only for the “Creator”. And, quite honestly, we all practice some form of it (more next week about what that might look like).

            That’s why God expressly says, “No other gods…”

Not because he is egocentric and insecure or that he feels threatened by the other gods, but because that’s what’s best for us; that’s what we were created for.

● James 3:13-18 offers the contrasting approaches to life (wisdom and folly/life lived independent of God) and suggests that life- the way we actually conduct ourselves/live, will always either support or refute our claims for wisdom.

● Humility is recognized as the primary characteristic of wisdom. The word more commonly used to mean ‘gentleness’… strength under control. It was a word used to refer to a horse that had been broken and trained to submit to the bridle. Understandably, the bit alone could never contain the power of the horse, but it had learned to surrender to the will of another.

● Here James contrasts Godly wisdom vs. earthly wisdom (pseudo-wisdom): centered in God vs. viewing life from a limited vantage point… our own.

            “selfish ambition” (primary characteristic of worldly wisdom: life lived independent of God)- a desire to promote yourself; to put yourself forward in order to gain some advantage. Self-elevation.

● Aristotle, before the time of the NT, used it to describe a self-seeking pursuit of public office. The image is of us running a campaign for self. We’ve got the buttons, the t-shirts, the speeches, but most of all, your own agenda that you are attempting to implement.

As long as we are our own point of reference (described the ‘fool’), we will strive to maintain control; everything in life will need to work out the way that we determine that it should.

The interesting thing is that while we appear to be in control, we live lives of quiet fear: fear of not having enough… fear of not being enough.

            It’s pride… an unhealthy dependence/reliance upon “self”.

Illus: George Steinbrenner (owner of the New York Yankees), in an interview I heard a couple of years before his death, declared that he wanted to be remembered, “As someone who never stopped trying.”

            We would applaud him as someone who was “driven” or “motivated”, but without his story, we might not hear what his life seemed to really be saying.

            Admittedly, his father was never pleased with anything he did; no accomplish was ever good enough. Might his continued efforts have been compelled by a deeper need to “be enough”?

11:2 Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.

27:22 You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.

26:11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly [as disgusting as that sounds, I’m certain I’ve experienced a regurgitation process from time to time].

            I guess if you want to live foolishly, no one can stop you.

Pride always ensures a fall. The only question is, “How far and how hard?” “What will be the consequences?”

You’ll notice how often the Bible speaks of temptation and sin and never portrays us as the unwitting victim, crying, “Entrapment!” It never lets us off on a ‘technicality’.

            Proverbs 5: the promiscuous woman is merely the opportunity to enact what is going on in the young man’s heart .

“How does this process develop?” [Evolution/anatomy of sin]

James 1:14-15

It is typically initiated as something that gets our attention. It makes an appeal. It peaks our curiosity.

Sin is first offered as a “distraction”; as a pursuit of something “pleasureable”.

“Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; look neither right nor left…” (4:25-27).

“Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth” (17:24).

“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” Job 31:1

These initial moments, I might suggest, are where the battle is actually won or lost. In order for you to be successful, temptation must be dealt with right here.

● Because, the next step is that the person/thing captures our imagination. It’s at this point that we start dwelling on the possibilities.

            We begin formulating a strategy for indulging our desires. We calculate the likelihood of the potential consequences or of remaining inconspicuous. It’s here that we even begin to subtly formulate justifications for our actions.

● Once motives are established, all we need is opportunity. Our heart grants permission to our will and we act!

(2) things here:

► Never underestimate the power of your desires.

            You’ll never know the true strength of your attachments and addictions until you are either deprived of them or you try to resist them.

► Your reasoning will always reach a conclusion that is consistent with your desires.

Once I set my heart on a certain course of action, I initiate a powerful process that will manipulate my logic and distort truth in order to ensure my satisfaction.

I’m amazed at the things that we are able to justify if our hearts really desire it.

            The process is referred to by Paul in Romans 1 as “exchanging the truth of God for a lie.”

● Our heart gets attached (‘nailed to’) the object of our desires which leads to addictive behaviors which, in turn, exert great power over us--- enslaves us. In this condition, our freedoms are never totally eradicated, but severely limited.

● Before we realize it, we end up with a life that we neither planned for nor wanted. I have yet to meet a person who was overwhelmed by some form of addiction who consciously chose to self-destruct.

            I have yet to meet anyone who took that first drink with the express intent of becoming an alcoholic. I have yet to meet anyone who visited that first porn site in order to purposefully become a sex addict.

It is beneficial to:

►Live free of your excuses. You will never successfully deal with temptation as long as it is somewhere “out there”. James says that the source is our own desires.

►Know your weaknesses and limitations… the enemy does (we don’t use the same bait on every species of fish, do we?)

►Refrain from exposing yourself to situations in which you feel most vulnerable and you’ll be most likely to compromise.

            Establish clear boundaries and refuse to cross the line.

“He who digs a hole and scoops it out, falls into the pit he has made.” Psalm 7:15 (sounds like a fortune-cookie, doesn’t it?)

►Know that your willpower alone is no match for your desires. It’s not strong enough.

Our weaknesses/brokenness will either create space for grace or strengthen our own resolve and intensify human effort.