This is it! Can you believe it? Can you believe we have spent three weeks together studying idolatry and we are down to the very last day? I hope this study has been purposeful in your life. It surely has been in mine. I don’t want to waste any time, we have ground to take back from the enemy and idols to uproot so let’s get started!
Spring is just around the corner, hopefully, and with spring comes gardening. If you know me at all, you know my lament over having a black thumb! I want desperately to have a thriving, gorgeous, plentiful garden but alas, the soil is too rocky and I have no time to cultivate it the way it needs to be cultivated. However, there is one thing I know that I can grow, in fact, I can’t even kill it - mint. What started as one small plant has turned into an entire garden all on it’s own. It has taken over every other herb, plant and weed that grows behind our house. It has grown up under our deck and continues to spread.
Last summer I made the mistake of tilling the ground hoping it would cut the root and kill it once and for all. Big mistake! I came to find out later that this only serves to spread the mint because it is easily adaptable and can take root just about anywhere. On top of that, it is a “runner” meaning it doesn’t grow up it grows out, like a vine. Now, we can have grasshopper pie for days, months even!
No matter! I was determined to figure out how to rid our garden of mint once and for all. However, what I found out is that mint has to be uprooted. It cannot simply be cut off at the ground and left to die on its own. Yep, that doesn’t work, at all!
Idols are of the same temperament. They cannot simply be cut off they have to be uprooted and once uprooted, they have to be replaced! But how? How do we practically go about replacing idols. We’ve done the work of identifying our idols. We’ve looked at the lie in our right hand and God has graciously opened our eyes to see that it is a lie. Now, we sacrifice them.
First, we sacrifice them by sacrificing self. Let me explain. Do you remember learning that idolatry is really a means of exalting self above God? Well, if idolatry is about exaltation of self, and it is, then replacing idols requires dying to self. Idolatry is about self-preservation, self-protection, self-exaltation, self-image but being a disciple is about self-mortification or as David Platt puts it, “Slaying yourself.” In order to sacrifice self, whether a believer or an unbeliever, we must come face to face with the gospel, daily. Daily, we need to be reminded of our great sin, the greater Savior and the greatest gift of grace that is always free and always, by its very nature, undeserved! “For by GRACE you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of works so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9)
Jesus’ message has always been about dying to self. Until we die to self and find our life in Christ alone we will continue to erect idols over and over and over again. Just like mint, there will always be an idol, albeit hidden, lurking just beneath the surface, waiting for us to bow down. Ladies, we cannot continue to rely on our own selves for anything! When we rely on our own righteousness (self-righteousness), our own works or our attempts to please the Lord with “good behavior” we are taking the power of the shed blood of Jesus and diluting it, we make it of no effect. We are turning blood into Kool-aid.
Instead of justification AND sanctification being by grace alone we begin to add in a little self.
We add in things like: daily study of the word, we add in church attendance or church participation, we add in generational faith or we attempt to please God with how good we’ve been. Then we put a little sugar on it to get it just the way we like it. We get rid of the bitterness and the parts that taste sour and we add in plenty of what makes us comfortable and in doing so the blood of Christ is unrecognizable.
But let’s face it, works is easier than faith. Works gives us a chart where we can measure out by gold stars how we are doing...more gold stars indicates how good we are. When works is taken out of the equation there is no way to determine how WE are doing - which is precisely the point. WE aren’t doing anything...this is grace...all Christ, all the time..Christ alone.
Our salvation is through grace alone so why would our sanctification be any different? It is all grace! When we grasp grace alone through Christ alone then we leave no reason to boast in self. We begin to die to self and die in our attempts to earn God’s favor. And almost without realizing it we begin replacing our idols with worship...worship of the One True God!
Second, we sacrifice idols by letting go of our self made delight and pursuing delight in the gospel, in Jesus and in grace. Psalm 37:4 states, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” That sounds like a great verse doesn’t it? You mean I can have what I want? Well, if we have just learned that sacrificing idols is about dying to self then the focus of the verse is not us! The blessing in the second part of the verse hinges on the directive in the first part of the verse. We are commanded to delight in the Lord! And, let’s face it, sometimes delighting is hard.
Let me give you an example. I love my children. I know that I should delight in them and most of the time I do however, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when my children test my delight. Selah, mothers, selah. There are also times when others things in my life test my delight in my children. Stress, exhaustion, illness and trials are all times when I can find it hard to delight. In those times I have to make a conscious effort to delight in my children but I am to do it nonetheless.
The point is, as we pursue delight in the Lord and make that our focus we begin to have desires that line up with His. The more I love the Lord, the more I want what He wants and when He gets what He wants then amazingly, I do too! The tendency is to be selfish. The tendency is to hold our desires as ultimate and best for us. The tendency is to pursue God based on what He can do for me and not for who He is. Scripture teaches the exact opposite. Just as dying to self is contrary to our self-preservation. Delight in the Lord and wanting His desires are contrary to our self-interest. Thankfully, the gospel is about making me into someone I am NOT! Daily, I am being made into the person I am NOT and if you are a believer, you can testify...so are you! Yes, beloved, so are you!
In this study, you may have identified more idols in your life than you realized or you may have focused in on one particular idol. Regardless the Spirit is moving. You and I are here because the Lord has brought us to this place, at this time, for this message. He is speaking and when He speaks His mercy is on display. God is not obligated to open the eyes of our hearts or convict us one more day. Today, ladies, today is our day of repentance!
Won’t you respond now? Won’t you consciously visualize opening your fist and laying down the idols that have had sway in your life and grasp Jesus with both hands! The Lord has brought us out of slavery in order to give us freedom! Freedom in serving Him alone by grace alone. Let’s leave the idols in Egypt and sojourn to the Promised Land. Let’s live with clean hands and a pure heart before the Lord and never look back!
It’s time to throw the idol in the fire, wipe the ashes off your mouth and go in search of water. I know you must be thirsty, I am too. My soul is parched and languishing. There it is! It’s over there, by the well, Living Water is what He’s called. If you drink of this water, you will never thirst again. NEVER...THIRST...AGAIN!
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