Posts Tagged ‘Counterfeit’

What a day yesterday was for me as we studied Psalm 121 together.  I didn’t get half-way through it in the message, because the first 3 verses are absolutely amazing.

We ran across a man who had an important decision to make – really, THE foundational decision of his life.  We see ourselves wrapped up in this man, as well.

Who was this man in Psalm 121?  We don’t know.  He didn’t include his name as he penned the Psalm.  But what we do know about him is that he is a man who is in need of help of some sort.  Protection?  Security?  Financial? Relational?  Spiritual?  Physical?  We just don’t know what he was up against in his life, but we do konw that he was up against something.  And he wrote a Psalm about it.

What decision did this man need to make?  Here’s where this man lived.  He lived between a choice to make in his need for help.  ”I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  Who would he choose to turn to for help? In what would he base his need for help?  Where would he turn?

He chooses to turn to the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.  This is the most important decision he made in his life up until this point, more important than who he marries, what job he takes, or anything else.  And it’s the most important decision we’ll ever make.  Who will we turn to in our times of need for help?

We have 2 options:

1. We can turn to idols
2. We can turn to God

I want to give us some handles this week to investigate how we know if we’re turning to idols.  ”An idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.”  (Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods).

Today, ask yourself  this question as we go “idol hunting:”  “What do you enjoy daydreaming about?  What occupies your mind when you have nothing else to think about?  Archbishop William Temple once said, ‘Your religion is what you do with your solitude.’  In other words, the true god of your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else demanding your attention.” (Keller, Counterfeit Gods).

Dig Deeper and let God illuminate any idols and break those idols!

PC

I’m in the middle of reading a great book by Tim Keller called “Counterfeit Gods.”  As our church is praying a 2011 dangerous and bold prayer of “God make us a God is supremely better people” this book rings the bell, and reinforces the need for this prayer to begin and begin now, no doubt.

Let me give you a few words by Keller (introduction, pg. xvi-xvii):

I recently heard the account of a field army officer who so exorbitantly pursued physical and military discipline with his troops that he broke their morale.  That led to a communication breakdown during combat that resulted in fatalities.  I knew a woman who had experienced periods of poverty as she grew up.  As an adult she was so eager for financial security that she passed over many good prospective relationships in order to marry a wealthy man she did not really love.  This led to an early divorce and to all the economic struggles she feared so much.  It appears that some major league baseball players, in a quest to play not just well but at a Hall of Fame level, took steroids and other drugs.  As a result, their bodies are more broken and their reputations more sullied than if they had been willing to be good rather than great.  The very things upon which these people were building all their happiness turned to dust in their hands because they had built all their happiness upon them.  In each case, a good thing among many was turned into a supreme thing, so that its demands overrode all competing values.  But counterfeit gods always disappoint, and often destructively so.”

Wow.  What is Keller saying is the result of setting up our happiness on other good things besides God?  Disappointment and destruction always result.

Think about it this way as we pray, “God make us a God is supremely better people” – God is jealous for #1 value in our lives in order to secure in us the most happiness possible.  John Piper calls this Christian Hedonism.  God gives us Exodus 20:3, the very first commandment of the 10 Commandments to ensure he gets the greatest glory and we become as happy as we can possibly be.  “You shall have no other gods before me.”  Oh how we must get what God is saying in this verse.  Read it again.  “You shall have no other gods before me.” Not money or work or promotion or sports or championships or marriage or the Hall of Fame or body image or financial security or retirement or recognition or anything should come before God.

Don’t miss this – the fact that living for God’s Glory (living for him as our ultimate value) always results in our greatest happiness.  When we live for him we are most deeply satisfied.  When we get these out of order it leads to disappointment and destruction.

Marinate on these as we close:

• What in my life competes for ultimate value?
• What is Exodus 20:1-3 saying to you today?
• Why should God receive first position in our lives and what results when he does?

Dig Deeper,

PC