The Hidden Idols in our Lives (Chapter 6)
Counterfeit gods: The Idols of the Heart • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 49:33
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So far we’ve looked at some of the more obvious idols of the human heart,
things like:
romantic love,
financial success,
and personal power.
These counterfeit gods are often easy spot in others,
and sometimes, in moments of clarity, even in ourselves.
But, there are other idols that even sneakier than those ones are.
because they live deeply under the surface of our hearts.
You could say they run in the background while we live our lives…
They are operating system being the graphical interface we see.
What idols are we talking about?
the idol of a safety, security, and control of our life.
and one of the big areas we see this has to do with money.
What is the root of all evil?
Not money… but the love of money.
Money itself is not evil.
It holds value, provides jobs, and serves real needs.
So work and money are good things.
The problem is when money moves from good thing to an ultimate thing.
When it becomes the measure of our happiness.
A New York Times writer once described a friend named Melissa.
She was not a comic-book villain.
She was generous with friends and charities.
She was also very good at her job,
which was to bundle different kinds of debt and then sell it off to investors.
But… she never paused to ask what those products might do to real people,
or to the wider economy.
And so when the market crashed in 2008,
she had no idea that what she was doing with her job was one of the major contributors to its crash.
And why not?
Because the one question that seemed to matter was, “What does it pay?”
When the only lens is profit, the moral questions fall out of the frame.
A few years back almost half of one Harvard Business School class took an “MBA oath.”
They promised to act with integrity,
to resist choices that only served narrow ambition,
and to build value for society over the long haul.
But… instead of doing this, some people replied,
“You do not need an oath. The market will sort this out. If you lie or cheat, it will come back to bite you. The job of a manager is simple. Maximize shareholder value.”
But this isn’t true.
You can chase short-term gains that look great on a quarterly report
and leave a mess that other people must clean up.
You absolutely can profit at other people’s expense.
Yes, sometimes honesty does cost you.
But sometimes caring for people does not improve your margins.
But… if profit is your ultimate goal,
you will not act justly and righteously in your business dealings when it costs you.
But… if you value both people and moral truth you will act rightly even if it means you make less money.
Harvard’s oath was a small attempt to push back on a cultural idol.
But it didn’t work…
Even though it said, “Profit is good, but not god.”
people still treated it like a god.
And if you treat it like god,
it will damage people and harm society.
The point is simple.
Profit is a good servant but a cruel master.
It cannot carry the moral weight we sometimes place on it.
Without a doubt, cultures run on hope.
A culture tells its members what life is about and where to find meaning.
And within our culture,
there are 3 things people look to in order to find meaning:
God. Nation. Self.
In the past, our hope was anchored in God’s story.
And because it was,
suffering and joy had meaning because God was at the center.
But then our culture moved away from this.
Instead of God being sacred, the nation itself began to carry that sacred weight.
America was spoken of as the redeemer nation with a mission to bring freedom to the world.
But that too didn’t last and the culture again shifted it’s basis for meaning.
Today, the highest hope for most people is individual freedom and autonomy.
The goal is to build an identity,
to resist every outside authority upon our lives,
and to maximize individual choice.
But again,
these are just counterfeit gods who cannot give us meaning or hope.
But returning to traditional values isn’t the solution either.
Because when family and nation are the highest goods this still lead to the bondage of idolatry.
And so the battle between traditional values and secular more individualistic values are both counterfeits.
Yes, they seem like they are at odds with each other,
because on one hand they are…
Modern Western, secular value’s focus on individual freedom does sharply conflict with traditional values that put the nation and family as the highest good.
But on the other hand,
they are both advocating for one counterfeit god over the other,
Instead of looking to the true and living God as the source of our meaning and hope.
which means that both the traditional and modern approach are idolatrous.
And you see this with MAGA vs progressive leftist politics.
Yes, the MAGA movement does share some overlap with conservative, biblical teaching…
But it’s often separated from the God of the Bible…
Why do they stand in opposition to illegal immigration?
Is it because they looked at the Bible and saw what God says about governments and their role to protect their people?
Not usually…
It’s because of pragmatism…
The middle class can’t buy housing, and so we need to implement conservative immigration policies.
Does the Bible teach conservative immigration policies?
Yes… yes it does.
Romans 13:1–7 is clear.
God expects us to obey governing authorities because He appointed them.
The only time we refuse is when a law requires us to disobey God’s justice and commands, as in Acts 5:29.
Crossing a border in violation of a nation’s law is still breaking that law.
And Scripture does not forbid nations from having immigration laws.
In fact, not having them leads to serious problems for a society…
It not only leads to injustice,
but it ironically leads to a lack of love and compassion for people…
Think of it like this.
It’s like saying foster parents, “Hey, we see you have taken in 10 kids into your home… but here’s another 100 for you to care for…”
But all that did was disrupt the home and make so those loving foster parents cannot take care of the 10 kids they were already taking care of.
Now, all 110 are suffering.
Yes, there can be unbiblical immigration laws that are too restrictive and are not good.
But having immigration laws is not unbiblical itself.
Which is why unlawful entry to a country is wrong.
It’s rebellion against God’s delegated authority and therefore is sin.
All nations set borders and processes.
and the Bible does not tell us exactly how open or closes our borders should be.
It gives the state the right to make laws and punish lawbreakers.
which can include detention, fines, or deportation.
As Paul tells us in Romans,
Governing rulers are God’s servants to restrain wrong and reward right.
But what about loving the foreigner?
Doesn’t that require breaking immigration policies as progressive leftist believes?
No it doesn't.
Scripture still forbids doing wrong to achieve a perceived good.
Yes, we are commanded to care for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner.
But that call does not cancel the command to submit to lawful authority.
Supporting, enabling, or encouraging lawbreaking is not obedience to God.
But again, if the law is unjust and evil, we do break that.
If the law tells us to turn over Jews to the Germans, we ignore it.
If it tells us to sin, we do not follow it.
But if the law is not sinful,
we submit to it.
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
The state bears the sword but the church bears the towel.
Support clear laws and humane enforcement.
At the same time, love the sojourner, offer practical help within the law, advocate for due process, and point every person to the hope that is in Christ.
which is something both MAGA and progressive leftist policies do not properly do.
Yes, both do share some overlap with the Bible’s teachings…
But make no mistake, but are advocating one idol over another.
The hardest thing about cultural idols is how invisible they feel.
But this is why Scripture keeps calling us to remember, to test, and to renew our minds.
Because if we do not,
the current will carry us farther than we think,
and will impact more than we think.
For example, take religion.
because make no mistake,
the idols of our culture will impact our religion.
One way is in the form of doctrinal pride.
Yes, truth matters.
The gospel is not a vague feeling.
It depends on truth based content.
But there is a way to rely on the rightness of your views instead of relying on the God those views describe.
And one sign of this is what Proverbs calls scoffing.
which is nothing but spiritual pride.
See, instead of holding the truth graciously but firmly,
a scoffer cannot disagree without having disgust for the other person.
And when someone else has an unbiblical view,
a scoffer does not correct with tears,
they defend with anger and self-righteousness.
A scoffer then sorts people by tribe and dismiss them without listening.
And when that happens,
doctrine is not longer a gift of grace but a badge of pride.
It’s now the thing that makes us feel safe and superior - which makes it an idol.
The second religious idol is ministry success.
Spiritual gifts and success are not the same as spiritual fruit.
Gifts look impressive fast.
Fruit looks ordinary and steady over time.
But crowds are not the same as love.
Leadership skill is not the same as humility.
As a pastor, I can preach sound sermons that point to the gospel of grace,
but I can do this leaning on results to feel secure before God.
and this is SOOOO EASY TO DO!
And not just for pastors.
We can so easily based our worth and value on our ministry performance,
on parenting our children in a godly and biblical way,
or being seen as the person who serves,
knows the Bible,
or attends every ministry event faithfully.
And it’s not that those are bad things,
it’s that they are bad at being the ultimate thing.
Because when the ministry scoreboard defines your peace,
your religious has become your god.
That is how leaders burn out.
It is how they excuse harm.
And it is how they become defensive and unable to receive correction.
The third religious idol is moral performance.
Most of us know how to say “saved by grace.”
But our hearts still like the control that comes with earning.
The mindset is:
“I obey, so life should go well.”
“I obey, so God owes me.”
But if we think this way, we are in for a real problem when life gets hard.
Because it causes us to doubt and not trust God .
We start resenting people we think are not trying as hard as we are.
We speak to others with superiority and despair.
And we fail to love and serve others are God has called us to.
And one of the biggest ways I’ve seen Christians do this is with how they respond to experiencing hardship in the church.
After being harmed by the church,
I’ve heard countless Christians say: “I’ll never join a church again…”
And sometimes that’s not going to church anymore,
but sometimes it’s going and refusing to join, plug in, and serve as they once did.
But that mindset reveals an idol of the heart.
It shows that the idol of ministry success was there all along driving their service!
And as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:13–15,
all of that will burn up before Christ!
13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
This is why ministry success is such a dangerous idol.
It looks good on the outside…
but underneath it’s nothing but idolatry.
And we saw this in our study through the book of Jonah.
In that book, God calls Jonah to go preach in Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.
the most powerful city in the world.
Assyria was a brutal and violent nation that were Israel’s enemies.
And funny enough, God then calls Jonah, a patriotic prophet to go preach to these wicked people so they might not be destroyed.
God tells Jonah to go east, but Jonah goes west.
In fact, he tries to go as far west as he can by buying a ticket to Tarshish,
which was the farthest west a person could imagine going at that time.
So why does Jonah run?
Well… as we saw, there are layers to that answer.
Layers of idolatry.
First off, the idol of fear .
Not only is Jonah likely afraid of walking into the most powerful city on earth and telling them to bow before Israel’s God,
But Jonah is also afraid that they might listen.
Because if Nineveh repents and God relents, they live.
and if they live, they remain a threat to Israel.
And Jonah does not want that.
Why not?
Because Jonah was a staunch believer in the MAJA movement.
Make Judah Great Again.
Not, I don’t think Jonah likely had a red hat that said this,
but he didn’t need to .
Because the idol of patriotism was stamped all over his heart.
For instance:
He does not want his God to give mercy to people he views as unclean and violent.
He wants his nation to succeed even if it means the destruction of other nations.
And so what does God do?
God does what He always does when their our idols rooted deeply in our lives - He sends a storm.
When the storm comes,
the sailors throw cargo overboard and cry out to their gods.
They cast lots to see who caused the trouble,
And the lot falls on Jonah.
Jonah outright admits he is running from the Lord and tells them to throw him into the sea.
But these pagan fisherman are more moral than Jonah,
so they do not want to.
But eventually they do.
The sea calms.
Jonah goes under.
And God appoints a great fish to swallow him.
Inside the belly of the fish, Jonah finally begins to get it…
He starts to see the idolatry of his heart when he says idol worshippers “forsake the steadfast love that could be theirs.”
And the word he uses for steadfast love is the Hebrew word hessed,
which has to do with God’s covenantal love.
Jonah realizes something he didn’t want to realize,
which is that grace is grace and no one has any right to it.
Which means anyone can receive it.
Not because they are worthy,
But because grace is a gift.
Finally beginning to realize this, Jonah says,
“Salvation belongs to the Lord.”
And that’s the key to rooting out every single idol.
Why?
Because think about it:
What are idols?
Idols are counterfeit saviors.
They always offer salvation you can control.
But real salvation…
God’s salvation, isn’t something you can control.
It’s something you receive FREELY and FULLY by God’s grace.
The fish spits Jonah out on dry land and God sends him again.
And this time Jonah goes.
His sermon is short and blunt.
He simply announces judgment.
And to everyone’s shock, the city listens.
From the greatest to the least, they humble themselves.
They turn from their violence.
They hope that God will relent.
And He does.
God shows the mercy Jonah feared.
This is the spot where most stories end.
Prophet obeys.
People repent.
God forgives.
And everyone celebrates and lives happily ever after.
But then comes something we don’t expect.
Then comes chapter 4 of the book of Jonah.
In chapter 4, Jonah is furious.
He tells God exactly why he ran at the start.
2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
This is remarkable…
Jonah reverts back to the mindset he had in chapter 1…
It’s like he is completely ignoring what he said in chapter 2.
His cultural idol has returned to the throne.
His religious pride has reasserted itself.
He cannot rejoice when enemies receive mercy.
This is how idols work…
Idols also distort our emotions and override our doctrinal beliefs.
in fact, they lead us to live contrary to our doctrinal convictions and beliefs.
And in response to this happening in Jonah’s heart,
God asks Jonah a simple question in chapter 4 verse 4.
4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
But instead of answering,
Jonah heads east of the city, builds a little shelter, and sits down to see what will happen.
So God then appoints a plant to grow up over Jonah and give him shade.
Jonah is happy about the plant,
but the next day God appoints a worm.
The plant withers.
God sends a hot wind.
The sun beats down.
and Jonah says, “I would rather die.”
Again, God asks if Jonah does well to be angry,
and Jonah says, “Yes. I am angry enough to die.”
But look at how twisted and backwards Jonah’s thinking is here.
Jonah rejoices over a plant and rages over a city.
Because that is what idols do.
They make small comforts into big treasures.
They make great mercies into threats.
And the result is disproportionate anger, anxiety, and despair.
That’s the pattern of idol worship…
When our idol is threatened fear results.
which leads to worry, guilt, anger, and hopelessness.
One of the big ways this shows up in our lives is when we can’t get past the guilt and shame of our past failures.
The parent who can’t shake the regret of their failures at raising their kids,
The spouse who can’t shake the regret of how many years or decades they went not approaching their marriage rightly,
or the man or woman who can’t shake the regret of all of the time he wasted not living for the Lord.
That might look like biblical sorrow,
but it’s NOT!
it’s idolatry.
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
There is such a thing as real guilt.
When we sin, we should repent
and, where possible, make restitution.
But… if we ever find ourselves thinking: “I know God forgives me, but I cannot forgive myself.”
That reveals our guilt is based on having failed an idol.
Because it shows that that idol’s verdict still matters more to you than God’s verdict.
Remarkably, in response to Jonah’s temper tantrum, God is kind to Jonah.
He exposes the idol, saying:
10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
God is not indifferent, cold, nor distant from Jonah.
He is patient and full of compassion.
Yes, He cares about their evil and violence,
but He cares about their souls and longs for their repentance.
which is why He sent a prophet who does not even want to go.
because God cared about the hearts of the Ninevites,
but also the heart of his prodigal children.
which not only included Jonah,
but you and I.
The book of Jonah ends with a question.
God asks, “Should I not have compassion on this great city?”
We are not given Jonah’s reply.,
And that is on purpose.
Because it’s as if the arrow that was aimed at Jonah now points at us.
Will we let God’s compassion shape us?
Will remain self-absorbed and grip of our idols or will we let go and live for God and for others?
And even though the book ends on a negative,
it’s actually a positive.
Why?
Because someone had to write the book.
Who would have known all the details of this story?
And who would a story that makes Jonah look like a fool on every page?
The answer is: “Jonah.”
And the only way Jonah would do that is if grace had finally penetrated his heart,
and rooted out tits idols.
And because this did happen to Jonah,
he wrote his story so we too could be free from ours.
So how can what happened to Jonah happen to us?
Start by naming the idols that are hardest for you to spot.
And look for them by the sin patterns in your life.
What do you worry about?
What do you fear?
What do have to have in your life to feel joy, meaning, and hope?
Because the answers to those questions are the answers to the idols of the heart.
And once you’ve identified the idols,
don’t stop there.
Once you’ve confessed them and asked God to help you kill them,
and then add some simple counter-habits that push God back to the center.
Practice Sabbath so your worth is not your productivity.
Give in a way that actually costs you something so your joy is not locked to your bank account.
Confess sins to both God AND others, so your image is not your savior.
And when you do that, don’t just say, “I’m sorry.”
That’s not how Christians are to handle their sin.
Instead:
Confess your sin to God and others when you sin against them.
And be specific: “I’m sorry, I spoke to you in sinful anger.”
Then, say how you should have spoke, “I should have spoken with gentleness and grace.”
Then ask, “Will you please forgive me?”
And then be willing to offer restitution if and where possible.
if you stole $20, pay it back…
And as you do all of this,
keep your eyes on the new and better Jonah, who is Jesus Christ,
always remembering what Jonah said in the belly of the fish: “Salvation belongs to the Lord.”
Because to the degree that you truly believe that
is the degree to which idols will lose their grip.
Idols always ask you to save yourself.
Earn it. Hold it. Prove it. Control it.
But God’s salvation says receive it by grace.
When you truly believe this,
work and profit become gifts, not gods.
Nation becomes a neighbor to love, not a deity to defend at any cost.
Doctrine becomes truth that humbles, not a badge that elevates.
and Morality becomes gratitude and growth, not the basis of your value and worth.
7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
