Sermon Tone Analysis

Who are you going to trust?

So far in this series, Values to Live by, we have talked about developing your standards, choosing what’s going to be the standard for your life.

Last time we talked about accepting responsibility for your life.

The next question that comes up is,

Who are you going to trust?

As we have talked about, there has been a decline in values in our culture.

One of the dramatic examples of that is the decline in trust in our society.

Who do you trust?

When I was a kid, it seemed you could trust the authorities.

If I got into trouble at school, I was in trouble at home.

Now, parents want to go and fight the teachers.

Customers don’t trust businesses… employees don’t trust their bosses… clients don’t trust their attorneys … no one trust the government anymore.

Least trusted professions in America: telemarketers, used car salesmen, media, and at the bottom - politicians.

What’s behind this decline of trust in our culture?

I said the answer to this in a previous message.

It’s not tooth decay, it’s truth decay

In the first session, we talked about how our society doesn’t value truth anymore.

With the news, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not as long as the ratings are good.

Listen, Truth and Trust go together.

You trust people who tell you the truth and you don’t trust people who lie.

Most of our culture today says there is no absolute truth.

If that’s true, you can’t trust anyone or depend on anything.

That causes us a lot of stress because God, our creator, wired us to trust in something bigger than ourselves.

He wanted you and I to have a relationship with him.

That’s why when people don’t trust God, the will build something else to trust in… education… money… power… science… relationship…

Anything I trust more than God is an idol

That’s the definition of an idol.

It’s anything we trust more than God.

The 2nd commandment said we are not to make any form of an idol.

He says here, for your own good, don’t have an idol.

So today we will answer three questions.

1.

What happens when I trust something else or some one else more than God?

2. Why does it seem so difficult to trust God?

3. What are the reasons that I really ought to trust God with my life?

1.

What happens when I trust anything more than God?

There are 2 negative effects.

When I trust something more than God, I am disappointed

Anytime we expect anyone or anything to meet needs in our lives that only God can meet, we will be disappointed because they can’t.

It doesn’t even have to be anything bad.

Family - northing wrong with family unless we thing that family or any person to meet all of our needs.

Kids grow up and move away or have their own families and you are not the center of their world any longer.

spouse - If I could just meet the right person…

Job - If I could just get this job, then everything would be ok…

MOney -

When you do any of those, you have created yourself an idol.

Idols will never meet your needs.

When someone in a primitive culture carves out an idol of a piece of wood and bows before it, we say that’s pretty dumb.

However, we do that all the time.

We do it with our careers, our relationships, our bank accounts, our … We act as if that is what gives us significance or meaning to our lives… our self worth.

When we do this, we will be disappointed and disillusioned.

It is amazing to me how people come up with all sorts of things to put their trust in other than God.

People spend millions on psychic hotlines, horoscopes, palm reading, tea leaves.

Just go to the Quarter and look.

Drive down 4th Street and look.

We wear things around our necks, hang things from our mirrors… as if that little statue can protect us.

You will be disappointed.

Look wha the Bible says.

Yes it is and when you trust anything or anyone more than God, you will be disappointed.

When I trust something more than God, I am dominated

Led astray - controlled

if I said to make a list of the top 10 things that are most important to you and you did it.

The thing at the top is your god.

If it’s not God, you have made yourself an idol.

Whatever you value the most will eventually control you.

You may think you control it, but it’s just a matter of time when it controls you.

Look at what the Bible says…

Whatever you value in life, you will become like it.

If I value money the most, I’ll be very materialistic… If I value pleasure the most, I’ll become a hedonist.

If I value what works the most, I’ll become a pragmatist.

If I value Jesus the most, I’ll become more and more like Jesus.

Whatever you value will shape you, and if it’s not God, it will mess you up.

Have you ever wondered why we do this?

Why we trust everything in the world but God?

We do this because we want a god we can control.

We want to shrink him to a size we can manage so he can help us when we want him and leave us alone when we don’t want him around.

We want him for our convenience.

He becomes a check box just like exercise, etc.

What we really want is a genie that will do whatever we want.

We often will refer to this building as God’s house or temple… but God is bigger than any building… not even the universe can contain God.

This is important because we all try to do this.

We all try to put God in a box and He is too big for any box.

He is everywhere at the same time.

This is important because how we see God will determine our values in life.

Do I exist for God or does he exist for me? … YOU exist for God.

God is not a genie in a bottle.

God made people in His image, but we are always trying to reverse it and make God in our image.

It really boils down to … we want to the god of our lives.

It’s the ultimate form of individualism.

If we can’t do that, we try to shrink him.

We want to create a god to fit our lifestyle because we want him to say, Hey, that’s ok… to have babies out of wedlock… to have an abortion… to not help others who are in need… to not treat people with dignity… to … we want God to give us the ok.

We do this in politics too.

We want God to justify our political opinions…

Then we have those who preach that God wants everyone to be a millionaire… that once you become a Christian, every thing would be smooth… They do this to justify their materialism.

Let me ask you, How many of you like to be misrepresented?

Me either and God doesn’t like it either.

A big thing people do today is called syncretism.

It’s the combining of different aspects of different religions.

You take a little of this one and a little of that one so it fits what you want.

IOW, Gods is whatever you want him to be…

Whenever we do these types of things, it always leads to disappointment and dominance… and eventually destruction.