Last Words; Lasting Words

 This sermon was called Last Word; Lasting Words: “What’s that sucking sound?  Dealing with approval Addiction”

 
This sermon was from June 21, 2009.  It was given by Matt Ballard at Perimeter Church.

The sermon deals with Acts 9; 2 Timothy 2:15; Proverbs 29:25; Galatians 1:10

As Matt was talking I kept hearing DC Talk’s what if I stumble in my head. You can really see these lyrics in particular in the first passage Matt cites, Galatians 1:10.

“Is this one for the people?  Is this one for the Lord? Or do I simply serenade for things I must afford?”
                              -DC Talk

The talk opens with a really great passage that I think invokes some serious thought.
Galatians 1:10
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

     This passage gets right to the heart of what a lot of people struggle with.  I know for my generation the need for approval is almost suffocating.  We really live in an age of competition and measurements.  Everything has a value assigned to it and we strive to have a higher value assigned to ourselves.  Unfortunately we often look to other people, to our peers, and those we lift up to assign those values.  This is where Matt says that idolatry comes in and I totally agree with him.  When we look to other people to assign our value to us we are taking that job from God and giving it to someone else.  Ouch.  It seems pretty bold when we look at it that way.

     Matt goes on to say that the great disruptor of our spiritual lives are idols.  Idolatry composes the fault lines in our faith. This declaration brings up an important question.  What is an idol?  As Matt Ballard explains, “an idol is anything other than God that you worship.  It is the thing that gives us a sense of value.  It makes us happy.”  I don’t think he means by that that anything that makes us happy is an idol.  Or, if he does I don’t agree with him.  But, I do agree that the things we honor and the things we focus on become idols very quickly.  I really like that he used worship.  I think we can exalt things to a worshipful level without realizing it sometimes.

The Bible says:
1. Idolatry is the root of all sin.
    -Misplaced worship, “For when we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we worship anything.G. K. Chesterton”

-One thing to take note of is the fact that an idol can be anything.  Is not the golden calf we picture from the old testament.  It can be approval, people, money, absolutely anything can become an idol once we place in front of us and focus on its importance.  This really hit me hard when I heard it.  I had to take a hard look at the things I lift up in my life.  I'm sad to say I did indeed find a few idols there.

2. Idols are not (in and of themselves) bad things.  Idols are simply good things elevated too high, into the space only God may occupy.
    (God) - Elohim - promise keeping God
            (Idols) - Elolim - revered non-sense

→ Quick Hebrew Lesson:  Elohim is the plural of El which is the word for God.  In conjunction with plural verbs it means gods.  However, with singular verbs Elohim is the word used in the Hebrew Bible to denote the God of Israel. For the Israelites God was referred to in the plural and genderless.

I think number 2 is a really great point.  These things are not bad.  That can't be emphasized enough.  Like almost everything in life, with these things we are called to exercise moderation. If idols become too important they will spoil life.  One thing I really love about the Perimeter services is that they are very Scripturally sound.   When a strong assertion is made, much like the ones here, the next comment is the scriptural basis for that comment. This adds a legitimacy I appreciate.

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
Romans 6: 13

      I think that when we allow the things we value control us we are offering ourselves up to sin.  By keeping God at the forefront and offering ourselves to God as placing him as Lord of our lives we “offer every part... as an instrument of righteousness.”

3.  Idols are pseudo-healers.
    -seeking to medicate a painful life sometimes we attach ourselves to worldly things which act as pseudo-healers.
    - we try to have these things give a “meaning” to life.

    - This idea really plays on the common image of people with giant holes in their bodies that they are trying to fill.  Despite the fact it is a very tired old image I think it rings true here.  These things are valued because they give us meaning.  We can define ourselves by them.  We are filling that hole with them.

I really like this quote that Matt incorporated:
“Whatever controls us is our Lord.  The person who seeks power is controlled by power.  The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by acceptance.  We do not control ourselves.  We are controlled by the ‘lord’ or ‘love’ of our lives.”
                                               -Rebecca Pippert.

Here are some more verses to think about: 

2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
    - in this passage the Bible shows us that we must seek God’s approval first.  Seeking any other approval puts that thing that Elolim (nothing) on a pedestal.

Proverbs 29:25
Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
    -The cool thing about the word fear when it appears in the Bible is that it means a great deal of things.  Fear does indeed mean afraid, but when read in the context of the Bible the reader must understand that it almost means awe, respect, and love.  These emotions are all ones that are associated with things we cherish and lift up.  The things we awe, and respect are undoubtedly the things that may become idols for us.

     I think it's crucial that we can look to several places in the Bible to back up the point Matt is making.  I also think it's crucial that the homework was done and the passages were presented within the sermon. 

 
     Loving God and others well is true spirituality.  The need of approval takes from loving others.  Matt makes a great point here in showing that the need for the approval of others actually takes away from the love you are giving them.
 

     Sometimes it seems we are hiding behind walls of wealth, approval, etc to gain acceptance.  This acceptance can be personified by the fig leaves of Adam and Eve.  Because we are afraid and ashamed of ourselves - much in the way Adam and Eve were - we feel compelled to cover ourselves in our wealth and the approval of others.  We are therefore hiding who we are and the person God created.  We are masking God’s creation and calling it unworthy.  How bold.  This need to hide ourselves makes us fraudulent.  However, God makes us legitimate.  Because God shields us from the need of others approval, because we are filled with God’s approval, we am safe.  By worshiping God as my only Idol I am safe.

     In a different sermon Randy Pope made the comment that if we were able to always keep the first commandment, we would never break any of the other nine.  Something to think about.  You shall have no other Gods before me.  If I could honor that in all ways I would never break the other commandments.  What do you think?

All the best,

Kearstin H. Sale