Who do you trust?

It always happens. Every week. On my way home from teaching on Sundays, I inevitably remember something I wanted to include in the message. Oh, I hit the points I wanted to planned to make. These are the extra things that I think of on Sunday morning, while visiting in the lobby, or during the worship portion, or even while I’m preaching that would bring more clarity or color to the main points. But somewhere from the pew to pulpit, I forget.  And, true to form, it happened again. Let’s see if I can work the idea in here.

Sunday’s focus was about the doctrine of sin, and a main point (if not the main point) is that at its essence, sin is a trust problem. We sin because we don’t trust that the commands of our Creator come from a place of love and goodness. For example, the first parents lived in a paradise where every need was met and they had the privilege of regular fellowship with God. However, God had given one prohibition in Eden: don’t eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil or “you will surely die.”

The Serpent tempted Eve by saying, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 ESV)

They didn’t trust that God had given them a good command, only given because he loved them. Instead, falling for the Serpent’s lie, they believed God was holding out on them – i.e. keeping the REALLY good things from them, specifically becoming like God. So, believing that God’s prohibition was really Him keeping them from being all that they could possibly be, they trusted the Serpent instead of their Father, and ate the fruit. Chaos has ensued ever since.

On some level, every person on earth believes that about God. That He shows us all that can be enjoyed in the world, then forbids us to have it.  The perception is that obedience to God is a lesser life – it holds you back. This has become a cultural idea that if we constrain ourselves, put limits on our feelings and behavior, if we don’t fully express ourselves, then we’re being inauthentic to the real self. You will never be all you can be, which (culture says) is psychologically damaging, leading to unhappiness and possibly neurosis. Nowadays it’s the worst possible thing that can happen to a person. So like Adam and Eve, thinking we know better than our creator of how to be a fully realized human being, we reach out and take what has been forbidden, but instead of happiness and wholeness we find brokenness and misery. The Serpent’s lie strikes again.

Now, when it comes to “forbidden fruit,” we naturally think of the usual suspects: sex, power, pleasure, money. The Bible certainly warns us about putting our hopes in such things. But people often do, and begin to cherish them, even worship them as their god, their savior, the means to fulfillment.  But those aren’t the only things we’re warned about. Here's what I didn't work in - idolatry can go beyond just the main four.

We’re also warned about unforgiveness, and bitterness, and anger, and  jealousy. Gossip, covetousness, and lies also make the list. These are just as likely to corrupt the soul, just as likely to become a thing into which we place hope. How?

Let’s take bitterness for example. Bitterness is relentless anger and cynicism resulting in hostility toward another, usually from pain, real or imagined, caused by that person. On the surface of it, we would say, “what a terrible way to live,” and it is. But some can be bitter for so long that they

wouldn’t know who they are without it. Unable or unwilling to forgive and move on, their bitterness has become their identity. Just like sex, money, pleasure, and power, they cling to their bitterness in some hope that it will ultimately be rewarded. Without their bitterness, they will be less human. They’ve become a slave to it.

How do we identify if something’s become our god, the means of fulfillment? Test yourself by filling in the following blanks:

I want ________________ (a relationship, a position, to be respected, admired, powerful…)

I fear _________________ (that my kids won’t turn out like I hope; my dreams won’t come true…)

I need ________________ (affirmation, to feel secure, to  be thought of as competent…

I expect ________________ (to be taken seriously, given respect…)

However you answered those questions, is likely what you’re putting your putting your hope, your worship in,, giving your love for that should be going toward your creator. Whatever it is, has become your daily, functional, savior. In essence, we’ve made sin our savior.

So what do we do? Hopefully, you have, or will, get honest with yourself and name what has the seat of control on your heart. What are you REALLY worshiping in hopes it will satisfy your spiritual thirst? That's step one.

Step two: replace the idol.

Colossians 3:1-5  If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

What’s he saying? He’s saying that idolatry cannot be fixed by repentance and then trying real hard to live differently. One must have a change of mind. Our minds/hearts must become preoccupied with someone more beautiful, more fulfilling, more trustworthy, than an idol we may have spent a lifetime pursuing. We uproot, and replace, understanding that only Jesus is big enough to carry the weight of our hopes and fears. We look up from our idolatry, our sin, and say, “Jesus, you are my justifier, not this. You are my peace. Not this. You are my master. Not this. You are my savior. Not this. We rejoice in Christ, learning to love him so much more drives our what will never love us back. You will only be released from the grip of your idolatry when your heart melts under the passionate heat of God’s love.