Finding and Replacing Your Idols -- Tim Keller

This post is adapted from Tim Keller's book Counterfeit Gods. If you get the chance, I highly recommend you reading this short and helpful book. It is probably more eternally helpful than I will ever know.

Identifying Idols

1.) Look at our imagination.

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. What do you enjoy daydreaming about? What occupies your mind when you have nothing else to think about? Do you develop potential scenarios about career advancement? Or material goods such as a dream home? Or a relationship with a particular person? One or two daydreams are no indication of idolatry. Ask rather, what do you habitually think about to get joy and comfort in the privacy of your heart.

2.) Look at how your spend your money.

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there is your heart also" (Matthew 6:21). Your money flows most effortlessly toward your heart's greatest love. In fact, the mark of an idol is that you spend too much money on it, and you must try to exercise self-control constantly. As Paul has written, if God and his grace is the thing in the world you love most, you will give your money away to ministry, charity, and the poor in astonishing amounts (2 Corinthians 8:7-9). Most of us, however, tend to overspend on clothing, or on our children, or on status symbols such as homes and cars. Our patterns of spending reveal our idols.

3.) Look at how you respond to unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes.

You may regularly go to church. You may have a full, devout set of doctrinal beliefs. you may be trying very hard to believe and obey God. However, what is your real daily functional salvation? What are you really living for, what is your real -- not your professed -- god? A good way to discern this is how your respond when life doesn't go your way. When you respond with sadness and disappointment, but then you go on and life isn't over then those things weren't idols. But when you pray and work for something and you don't get it and your respond with explosive anger or deep despair, then you may have found your real god. 

4.) Look at your most uncontrollable emotions.

Look for your idols at the bottom of your most painful emotions, especially those that never seem to lift and that drive you to do things you know are wrong. If you are angry, ask, "Is there something here too important to me, something I must have at all costs?" Do the same thing with strong fear or despair and guilt. Ask yourself, "Am I so scared, because something in my life is being threatened that I think is a necessity when it is not? Am I so down on myself because I have lost or failed at something that I think is a necessity when it is not?" If you are overworking, driving yourself into the ground with frantic activity, ask yourself, "Do I feel that I must have this thing to be fulfilled and significant?" 

Replacing Idols

Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God, it is a setting of the whole heart on something besides God. This cannot be remedied only by repenting, or using willpower to try to live differently. Turning from idols is not less than those 2 things, but it is also far more. Paul says we must "set the mind and heart on things above" where "your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-3). This means appreciating, rejoicing, and resting in what Jesus has done for you. Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol. That is what will replace your counterfeit gods. If you uproot the idol and fail to "plant" the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back. 

Rejoicing in Christ is crucial because idols are almost always good things. If we have have made idols out of work and family, we do not want to stop loving our work and family. Rather, we want to love Christ so much more that we are not enslaved by these things. "Rejoicing" in the Bible is much deeper than simply being happy about something. Paul directed that we should "rejoice in the Lord always" (Phil. 4:4), but this cannot mean "always feel happy," since no one can command someone to always have a particular emotion. To rejoice is to treasure a thing, to assess its value to you, to reflect on its beauty and importance until your heart rests in it and tastes the sweetness of it. "Rejoicing" is a way of praising God until the heart is sweetened and rested, and until it relaxes its grip on anything else it thinks that it needs.  

The Gospel Gives Us Wings

After working outside with my Dad yesterday afternoon, we stumbled upon a fallen June Bug that was flipped upside down and was frantically doing everything it could to flip itself back over. It would move its tiny arms (or legs?) back and forth. It would shuffle its body around. Nothing would do. It was a hopeless scene, that my Dad pointed out was so true of us with the Gospel.

Unless someone came by and cared enough to flip that June bug over to relieve it of its suffering, it would spend the rest of its short life in a hopeless, miserable state trying to flip itself over, never being able to do it on its own. It would make noise, wiggle, and frantically move its arms to death. My Dad, out of compassion, picked the June Bug up in his hand, let it get its bearings, and then it was able to fly away.

Fallen and Can't Get Up

We are that June Bug. Because of our sin we have been flipped over on our backs and find ourselves in a hopeless situation. We are doomed to die. The clock is ticking and there is nothing we can do about it. But since we live in the Bible belt, we here a lot about being a "good" person and we get 10 steps to flipping ourselves back over. We start to wiggle by trying to read our Bibles more and cleaning up some parts of our lives. Then we move our arms really fast by going to church and serving more. We think we are making progress because we're moving, but even though we are moving around we're still not right side up and we're more hopeless than ever. Just like the June bug, no matter how many different "good" deeds or activities we add to our life, we just can't seem to fly. We are exhausted, hopeless, miserable, and at the end of our rope.

The Gospel Gives Us Wings

A famous poem by John Bunyan sums this feeling up perfectly:

"Run, John, Run the law commands

But gives us neither feet, nor hands"

The law or commands of the Bible tell us what to do, but they give us no power to do them. Much like the June Bug who keeps trying to do more things to save itself, but is left hopelessly on its back. The law of the Bible shows us that we are on our back, but can't save us and help us to fly. The good news of the Gospel isn't that if we do more good things, read our bibles, go to church, and pray then we will be able to fly. That's not good news. That's exhausting. Especially when you're on your back and dead in your sins (Eph. 2:1-3). No, the Gospel is far better news than some self-help, do it yourself salvation plan. The Gospel gives us wings. God, because of his great love for us, scoops us up, dusts us off, and gives us our wings (a new heart with new desires of the Spirit) through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son (Eph. 2:4-7). The law drove Mr. Bunyan into despair, but the gospel changed him forever:

"Far better news the gospel brings:

Its bids us fly, and gives us wings"

I pray Jesus helps you fly today. All the way to Glory.

(Special thanks to my Dad for the illustration of the June Bug. Nothing has better illustrated the beauty of the gospel to me than this)

Dear Mr. Christian

I'm a huge fan of Christian rap. Mostly because the lyrics contain real struggles, real brokeness, and constant mention of a real Savior that we so desperately need. This is one of the most convicting songs I've ever heard. The chorus is enough to stop your heart:

"Dear Mr. Christian, I know you're on a mission. I know you say the answer to my problem is religion. I know I'm supposed to change the way I live and stop sinning. But I'd appreciate it if you'd take some time to listen. 

Written from the perspective of non-christians, I think it is a message we all need to hear and take in. I pray it helps us become more like Christ, who had compassion and cared for the broken and marginalized. He didn't just give them a quick buck or advice, but he gave them what they needed most: himself.

Jesus Loves Whores & Hypocrites -- Video Testimony

Pastor Leonce Crump of Renovation Church shares his testimony of how "God shows his love in this that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). I pray his testimony helps us remember how Jesus saved us by his grace and love and gives us the confidence and boldness that he will save & continue to save others as the Gospel goes forth.


Jesus Loves Whores & Hypocrites - Pastor Leonce Crump II from Renovation Church on Vimeo.

99 Problems, but I'm Not One

Everyone has a book coming out on problems. The problem with your marriage. The problem with the economy. The problem your anger. Everyone seems to have an answer in a problem filled world, but nothing seems to be giving any long-term help or satisfaction. Yes, some problems allow for a quick fix every now and then, but we no nothing of long-term joy, contentment, and hope. In the category of self-help we have aimed for too practical and haven't thought enough about the big picture. We haven't rooted our problems back to the underlying cause behind everything. In short, we need a Savior. Someone outside of ourselves to save us from ourselves. All our problems can be boiled down to 2 realities. Only 2, really? Think about it.

1.) Too Much of Man
This is the beginning of all of our problems (noticed I said all). Every single one of us sits on our own throne and thinks the world revolves around us. Pride is at the root of all sins (Proverbs 16:18). It is what made Lucifer fall and what made Adam and Eve forsake God's perfect rule for an apple. Pride got us into this mess in the first place and it still ruins us to this day. Why do you get mad when someone cuts you off in traffic? Why do you get worried about the future? Why do you get angry at a friend? It all goes back to the fact that we want our way. We love our way. This is the essence of sin. Sin isn't a behavior problem, but rather a treasuring problem. We treasure ourselves more often than God and this in turn leads us into trouble. What are you treasuring? I think we'd all be lying if we didn't say us. We love us. We have made the finite (man) seem infinite and in there lies all of our troubles.

2.) Too Little of God
If you take a honest look at the world today, I don't think anyone is disagreeing with me here. We have made much of us, and in turn made little of God. It always works like that. You can't have a high view of man and God. John the baptist agrees: "I must decrease. He must increase" (John 3:30). Paul Tripp, a biblical counselor, claims that "only the worship of God can destroy the worship of yourself." God is not worshipped because we don't see him how he really is. We see watered down versions of Him in our culture, entertainment, and, God help us, in our churches. When God becomes small, man becomes a big and problem on top of problem begins to multiply. So what do we need? We need to discover the Godness of God. We need to see God not just for what he can do for us, but for who He is. Who God is goes a lot farther than what He does. We need a bigger God.

What about Jesus?
But isn't the Bible about Jesus? How does Jesus fit into this theory of "bigger God and smaller you" fixing all of the world's problems? Check out this chart.

As we get a greater awareness of who God is and what's He's done (aka Bigger God), we will get an awareness of our sinfulness (aka smaller man). This is what happened to Isaiah:

"I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with 2 he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!' And I said: 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:1-3, 5)

Don't miss this. If we think we are something great and worthy to be praised, we are missing who God really is. A greater, grandeur view of God will always make us feel small. Really small. Too often we hold ourselves into comparison with other people that we've handpicked because we know that we are better than them. But when we bring ourselves into comparison with a Holy, perfect God we always come up way short. Now enter Jesus into Isaiah's vision:

"Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." (Isaiah 6: 6-7)

As God becomes bigger in our lives, we become smaller and the cross becomes greater and more precious to us. The cross always puts us in right standing before God, despite of our sin because Jesus took our sin and gave us his perfect righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). A sign if we are growing in our faith is if we need Jesus more and more each day, because we are seeing God as bigger and seeing ourselves as smaller. Day by day of this (less of me, more of Him, treasuring Jesus) will change the world. We need to see a bigger God. We need to see a smaller of us. We need to see how great Jesus truly is.

Christ is All

I have talked a little recently about the Godness of God and how we need to see all of who Christ is. This video is 18 minutes. These 18 minutes might change our lives forever if we would let them. Watch in awe of your God the one who paid it all for us.

"All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17)

Knowing God

I have had a lot of people in the past ask me if they can have assurance if they truly know God. I can resonate with this question because throughout the Christian walk we all have doubts and the dark nights of the soul. Can we know if we have a relationship with God? If so how? How can we know if we truly know God?

The following is adapted from J.I. Packer's classic Knowing God.

"Knowing God is crucially important for the living of our lives. We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know God. Disregard who God is and you end up wasting your life and losing your soul."

Evidence of Knowing God

1.) Those who know God have great energy for God
This energy for God is not just about public gestures. In fact, it doesn't even start there. People who know their God before anything else are people who pray, and the first point where their zeal and energy for God's glory come to expression is in their prayers. We might be old, or ill, or otherwise limited by our physical situation. But we can all pray about the lack of God in everyday life all around us. If, however, there is in us little energy for such prayer, and little consequent practice of it, this is a sure sign that as yet we scarcely know our God.

2.) Those who know God have great thoughts of God
In the Old Testament, Daniel is facing the might and splendor of the Babylonian empire which had swallowed up Palestine and the prospect of further great world empires to follow. It dominates the people of God by every standard of human calculation, but the book of Daniel as a whole forms a dramatic remind that the God of Israel is King of kings and Lord of lords, "that Heaven rules" (Dan. 4:26), that God's hand is on history at every point, that history, indeed, is no more than "his story," the unfolding of his eternal plan, and that the kingdom which will triumph in the end is God's
What do you think about when you think about God? Does his tremendous sense of Holy majesty, moral perfection, and gracious faithfulness keep us humble and dependent, awed and obedient, as it did Daniel? By this test, too, we may measure how much, or how little, we know God.

3.) Those who know God show great boldness for God
Daniel and his friends were men who stuck their necks out. This was not foolhardiness. They knew what they were doing. They had counted the cost. They had measured the risk. This risk got Daniel thrown in the lion's den and got all of them thrown in the fiery furnace. They were well aware what the outcome of their actions would be unless God miraculously intervened, as in fact he did. It does not worry them that others of God's people see the matter differently and do not stand with them. By this test we may also measure our own knowledge of God.

4.) Those who know God have great contentment in God.
There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God's favor to them in life, through death and on forever. This is the peace which Paul speaks in Romans 5:1 -- "since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ -- and whose substance he analyzes in full in Romans 8:1.

Do we desire such knowledge of God? Then 2 things follow.

First, we must recognize how much we lack knowledge of God. We must learn to measure ourselves, not by our knowledge about God, not by our gifts and responsibilities in the church, but by how we pray and what goes on in our hearts.

Second, we must seek Jesus. When he was on earth, he invited ordinary people to company with him; thus they came to know him, and in knowing him to know his Father.