Tear Down the Idol's Week 2
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
The Idol of Self
The Idol of Self
MAIN POINT: God is good. His promises are true. And He is crazy about you.
ANCHOR TEXT:
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
WHAT DO WE WANT STUDENTS TO KNOW? From the very beginning, the devil has been working to downplay God’s goodness and cause people to doubt God’s love for us. Because when he can downplay God’s goodness, idols don’t look so bad. But, the truth is, idols are deceptive. They promise more than they can deliver and cost us what we want most. The idol of self robs us of our real selves, but God tells us who we really are.
WHAT DO WE WANT STUDENTS TO FEEL? Challenged to examine their hearts and decisions. Comforted by God’s faithfulness to them and the truth of His promises. Eager to remember and internalize what God says about them.
WHAT DO WE WANT STUDENTS TO DO? Tear down the idol of self by remembering who God is and who He says they are.
TENSION: The goal for this section is to help students FEEL the tension of the choice they will make, of who they will serve.
When the devil can downplay God’s goodness, idols don’t look that bad and our choice gets harder to make.
Throw out hooks and examples to help them feel the weight of the decisions they make.
TRUTH: In this portion of the message, we will break down the text to uncover Satan’s strategy in targeting our egos.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Idols always promise more than they can deliver, while God always delivers on what He promises.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
Idols are deceptive. At their root, they are built on the lie that there’s something out there more satisfying/reliable than the God who loves you and created you.
Satan is the accuser and his goal is to make you doubt God's goodness. God is good. His promises are true. And He is crazy about you.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
We are most tempted to make gods of ourselves when we forget who God is and who He says we are.
APPLICATION: Now that we’ve exposed the enemy’s strategy, it’s time to move to the application: We tear down the idol of self by remembering who God is and who He says we are.
That application is much easier said than done. So, to help us actually do that, bring in some of the principles and the practice Pastor Craig taught our students in Winning the War in Your Mind for Teens. The goal is to give our students visible, tangible examples from God’s Word of who He says they are.
Who does God say we are?
You are accepted by God.
His child and Jesus’ friend (John 1:12, John 15:15).
You’re complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10).
You are secure.
Free from condemnation and fear of punishment (Romans 8:1-2).
Completely safe and wrapped in God’s unconditional love (Romans 8:35-39).
You are significant.
Filled with the Spirit of the Living God (2 Cor. 1:21-22).
The light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14).
God’s co-worker and His masterpiece. (2 Cor 6:1, Ephesians 2:10).
You are chosen and appointed by God to live a life that makes a lasting impact on the world (John 15:16).
CONCLUSION: Tie it all together with a reminder of the costliness of idols and challenge your students to stop settling for a knock-off when God is offering us Himself. You may choose to tell a story about when you realized just how good God is and how empty serving yourself really was. Or you might share the identity statements you are speaking over your own life to give them an example to follow. After this, lead through the challenge and Call to Christ.
OUTLINE
INTRO: Have you ever tried to convince yourself that the knock-off was just as good as the real thing? The truth is, we all do that sometimes. Even in our relationship with God. We settle for idols, substitutes for God, when God is offering us Himself.
Tell a story or offer an illustration about knock-offs or substitutes and how they compare to the real thing.
Today, we are going to look at one of the idols of our modern culture—the idol of self. To do that, we are going to walk through the first instance of people choosing a substitute instead of God. This is part of our series, Tear Down the Idols. If you missed the set up, you can go back and watch it on our YoutTube channel, but here’s the one sentence recap: God is good. Idols are bad. The choice is yours.
God is good. He’s the real deal. The personal, loving Creator of everything who wants a relationship with you.
Idols are bad. They are counterfeit and costly. They promise more than they can deliver and cost you what you actually want most in life.
The choice is yours. Just like we are going to see in this story today, you get to choose who or what you will serve.
Here’s a little food for thought: What is your view of rule-givers or authority? Are you super skeptical? Think they are bad? Want to restrict you? Punish you? Protect you? Help you?
TENSION: While you think about that we are going back to the very beginning of our Bibles, in Genesis 3, to watch Adam and Eve wrestle with similar questions:1Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the
tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”4“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.5“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:1-6 NIV
I want you to see how the devil targets our identity with his deception and tries to get us to doubt God’s goodness. Because when he can downplay God’s goodness, then idols, the substitutes, don’t look all that bad. And our choice gets harder to make.
Throw out hooks and examples to help them feel the weight that their choices have.
(I really care about my long term health, but when I am given the choice between some broccoli and a donut…the donut really doesn’t look that bad.
I really want to have a deep, close relationship with Jesus, but when I am given the choice between getting up early to hang out with Him and listen to what He has to say or hit snooze…sometimes that snooze button doesn’t look that bad.
What I actually want most is to experience relationships the way God designed them, but I am presented with the choice of being intentional about the influences I allow into my life, people who will tell me the hard truth even when I don’t want to hear it or just hanging around people who make me feel a certain way…the boost to my ego doesn’t actually feel that bad.)
The same is true with God. When we downplay God’s goodness and His love for us, idols don’t look that bad.
TRUTH: But what is the idol actually being presented in this story? Excellent question.
To answer that, we have to discover who/what is actually being served when it plays out. And what is so sneaky about the devil’s strategy is that, if you look at it, the enemy isn’t trying to get people to worship and serve him…
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Nothing in there about serving the devil instead of God. That would have the alarm bells going off like crazy, right? “You really should consider worshiping and serving me instead of the God who created you, knows you, walks and talks with you, works with you everyday…creepy snake guy over here, clearly the better choice.” Buzzer. OBVIOUSLY not true, not compelling.
No, Satan was much more crafty than that.
He didn’t offer himself as an alternative to serving God, he offered them, Adam and Eve, as the alternative.
He posed a decision that was self-serving. YOUR eyes will be opened. YOU will be like God. YOU will know both good and evil.
And we have been presented with that same decision ever since. Not: Do you want to worship God or the devil today? Hopefully, that’s an easy choice. But, do you want to serve God or yourself today? That is much, much harder.
What do I mean? We live in a culture that says, do what makes you happy. Look out for number 1. Climb the ladder. Do what it takes to get ahead and forget anyone who tries to get in your way.
Hooks/examples of what this could look like for your students: Maybe in your relationships you are actually using people to get ahead or make you feel a certain way rather than caring for them. They are just there to make you happy. You’d never say that, but that’s how you treat them. Maybe at your job you work hard when your boss is looking, but otherwise you are slacking off. You just care about getting a paycheck or promotion. Again, you’d never say that, but that’s how you think. Maybe you are making a decision about where to go to college right now and instead of asking Jesus where He is leading you, you are trying to get as far away from the people who have hurt you in HS. Forget them and go achieve your potential. You’d never say that, but that’s the truth. If you’ve made decisions based on any of those things, I don’t want you to feel ashamed. I want you to see how effective Satan’s lie has truly become.
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
She thought that eating the fruit was what was best for her. That serving herself would lead to a more satisfying (pleasurable, fulfilling) life than the one she was already experiencing. Sometimes I think that too. But idols always promise more than they can deliver, while God always delivers on what He promises.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
What the idol of self promises is satisfaction, but what it delivers is shame. Shame that says you have to hide who you really are until the real you is completely covered up. What the idol of self promises is fulfillment, but what it delivers is fear. The fear that you’ll never be enough.
And the fear of not being enough starts to take over our lives. Like you will do whatever it takes to prove it wrong—bust your butt in school, try out for any team, jump from relationship to relationship, all to try and disprove the fear that we set ourselves up to battle when we serve the idol of self. Do you see it? The idol of self will cost you your real self. It will cost you your freedom. Because Idols are deceptive. At their root, they are built on the lie that there’s something out there more satisfying/reliable than the God who loves you and created you. Who promises…Insert promises of God to speak over your students:
- To never leave you or abandon you
- To be close to you when you are brokenhearted
- To help you when you are in trouble
- To give you real rest from all your toiling and trying to hide or prove that you’re okay. God is good. His promises are true. And He is crazy about you.
What does the devil do though? He asks, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Always imagined this sneaky voice. It must have been so obvious! I can’t believe Adam and Eve were so dumb! This is on par with hiding in the garage with a chainsaw murder or like a creepy smile from Thanos. Like, you KNOW something bad is gonna happen.
But, when I understand what the devil was getting at, this sounds more like an accusation. Did God really say that? Wow. I can’t believe He would be so harsh, up-tight, even…manipulative. Because Satan, the accuser, wants us to question God’s goodness towards us. Disbelieve what He says about us. Doubt His love for us. He tries to get us to ask questions about God instead of asking our questions to God.
Hooks for what this may sound like/how it plays out in students’ lives: (So for some of you, when you hear that God has said, love your enemies. Like that person who constantly blasts you on social media? Yeah, that one…you question if God really cares about how that feels.
For some of you, when you hear that God commands us to be people who tell the truth, even when it costs us. To not falsely represent a situation, even if exaggerating the facts makes us look better or gets a laugh, you think He just doesn’t get what it takes to build a reputation today.
And for others of you, when you think about God’s design for marriage and relationships, you think well, things were clearly different back then.
Satan’s play is targeting our egos…trying to convince us that we see something God doesn’t see. We thought of something He didn’t think of. And actually, we are more qualified to make decisions about what’s best for us than He is.
The tragedy of this story is that Satan’s deception worked because Adam and Eve forgot who they were. The devil told them they wouldn’t die, they’d be like God.
The truth is, they already were.27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! Genesis 1:27, 31 NLT
This is who God said they were…created in His image and likeness. Very good.
Do you see it? The devil offered them something they already had—likeness with God. We are most tempted to make gods of ourselves when we forget who God is and who He says we are.
APPLICATION: Who does God say we are?
You are accepted by God. (Ephesians 1:6)
6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
His child and Jesus’ friend (John 1:12, John 15:15).
15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
You’re complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10).
10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
You are secure. Psalm 32:7
7 For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.
Free from condemnation and fear of punishment (Romans 8:1-2).
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
Completely safe and wrapped in God’s unconditional love (Romans 8:35-39). You are significant.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Filled with the Spirit of the Living God (2 Cor. 1:21-22).
21 It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, 22 and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.
The light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14).
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
God’s co-worker and His masterpiece. (2 Cor 6:1, Ephesians 2:10).
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
You are chosen and appointed by God to live a life that makes a lasting impact on the world (John 15:16).
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
When you look at this list of YOUR identity in Christ, what statements stand out? Which ones punch you in the gut a little? What makes tears come to your eyes? What feels confusing or upsetting because you just don’t see how it could be true yet? I want you to get a piece of paper and write those down, along with the verses.
Those are the statements you are going to work on internalizing this week. Put them where you will see them…your mirror. Your lock screen. Do whatever it takes to remember who God says you are.
We tear down the idol of self by remembering who God is and who He says we are.
Tell a story about when you realized just how good God is and how empty serving yourself really was. Or share the identity statements you are speaking over your own life to give them an example to follow.
CONCLUSION: There is no substitute for a relationship with God like that. God is good. His promises are true. And He is crazy about me and you. So let’s stop settling for the knock-offs of idols and losing ourselves in the lie that we have to be someone other than who God says we are… and let’s remember our good, good God.
Lead through the challenge and Call to Christ.
