April 29, 2009

• my notes on Tim Keller's talk on idols @ The Gospel Coalition Conference

  Here are my notes from Tim Keller's talk The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry given April 21, 2009 at The Gospel Coalition 2009 Conference. Keller's text was Acts 19:21-41. I've put in red text surrounded by parentheses my own comments/thoughts/musings I had during the talk and now as I've been typing it up and reflecting on it. I often tend to spin off ideas/thoughts of my own during sermons, so I know I didn't get all of Keller's talk down as well as others may have...

  Keller's Outline:
  
  I. Discern the idols.
  II. Expose the idols.
  III. Destroy the idols.

  Paul always took on and challenged the idols of the culture and of the peoples' hearts.

  I. DISCERN THE IDOLS

  The preaching of the Gospel changes people's lives. (No lasting and genuine change can come apart from the Gospel! Romans 1:16: the power of God unto salvation...We can't preach moralism, a false gospel which is devoid of God's power to sanctify.)

  If idols aren't confronted, there's no change in behavior.

  It's true that manmade gods are no real gods, yet they have power.

  Paul's response to the idols he saw: His spirit was provoked. (How do we respond when we see idols in our own lives, in the life of the church, in society? Are we provoked? What are the idols in the visible church: legalism, entertainment...Are we provoked? e.g..-Nehemiah...Phinehas...Paul in Galatians 1...Moses re: the golden calf...)
  
  Paul preached against the idols. He went to the marketplace, the agora to preach. That was the place the culture was formed. Keller asked: What is today's agora? Hollywood, Harvard, the New York Times. (the internet ~ my blogging...)

  The shrines, temples, images of the gods literally overshadowed the marketplace.

  An idol = Some created thing takes God's place. (The church has replaced Christ as Savior with....What gods displace Christ in the church?)

  Every culture is dominated by idols unless it is dominated by the glory of God. (This includes the church culture if we don't make Christ and God's glory central...)

  David Clarkson - a Puritan: "Soul idolatry excludes men out of heaven." (!) (For more on Clarkson, you check this out; you can find Clarkson's sermon here. HT: Miscellanies.)

  Physical idolatry is not the real sin. Soul idolatry is. What do our hearts bow to? (!)

  Scripture texts which are metaphors of idolatry include Ezekiel 16; Jeremiah 2 & 3; Hosea.
  Other idolatry in Scripture: Israel entering into treaties for political protection w/ Egypt, Assyria.
  (Golden calf, Galatian return to the law, etc...our God as a jealous God...)

  Idolatry shows a lack of trust in the LORD God...Idolatry = whenever we look to some created thing rather than the Creator.

  Definition of an idol = anything in your life that is so central to your life that if you lose it you don't have any meaning; you can't do w/out it.

  Examples: family, children, job, achievement, competence, beauty, political, social success, moral record, religiosity, ministry success (!), academic excellence, financial achievement, family connections, self-expression (talked about the artist here how those in arts often point fingers at those in business/financial world, but don't see that their own self-expression can be an idol).

  Keller talked about idols bering finite and limited vs. God being infinite and ultimate... (was thinking there about my own idols, so didn't follow the reasoning on that, plus, well, frankly, I'm not wired to be an intellect...)

  Any and every thing can be a god...

  
  2. EXPOSE THE IDOLS

  Acts 19:26: ...they are no gods at all...Show the reader (audience) that idols never deliver. But whenever you threaten someone's idols, people themselves are threatened and they will fight back, e.g.-as we see in Ephesus.

  We need to know peoples' idols. We are saved by grace yet...these things can become forms of works righteousness. Any life will deify something apart from God if it is not built on Christ's grace. (Similar to his point above: "Every culture is dominated by idols unless it is dominated by the glory of God." So too, every life is dominated by idols unless it is dominated by the glory of God. Sounding a little Piperesque there, don't you think?)

  Three Kinds of Idols
  a. Personal idols
  b. Religious idols
  c. Cultural idols

  a. PERSONAL IDOLS

  (1) Money...greed is idolatry (Col. 3). Artemis, goddess of fertility was associated w/ business. Today child sacrifice, many sacrifice family to make money.

  (2) Romantic love..."I'm nobody unless this person loves me." You have to know your love relationship is healthy. (You must understand God's love for you in Jesus Christ; otherwise you continue to cling to/possess/idolize/rely in unhealthy ways on your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend. No person can meet all your needs. When we put that expectation on others we make them gods, but–Isaiah 54:5 The LORD is our husband/wife. He alone is our all in all. Any person is a gift to us from Him...)

  (3) Children..."If my children are happy...If my children are believers..." We can live out our lives through our children. (So many people's lives revolve around their children...which is very acceptable and valued in much of the Christian culture today. Keller touches on that a little bit later on. We can't ever idolize our children. Again, just as our spouses, they are entrusted to us by God, they are never to be put on a pedestal.)

  (4) Politics...referred to Egypt/Assyrian alliances...didn't really get down his point (guess you'll have to listen!)

  (Application for preaching/teaching:) Unless we understand personal idols, our preaching will be useless. (Keep in mind that this talk was given to mostly pastors or seminary students. I would have liked Keller to take this further and challenge the audience more to look at our idols, though he does touch on that a little bit his talk. If we aren't preaching to ourselves first, we really can't effectively preach to others, can we? Timothy was to watch his doctrine and his practice...)

  Luther's Larger Catechism: You never break commandments two through ten without breaking the first one!

  We can't understand moral failings or psychological problems apart from understanding idols.
  "I can't forgive myself." That's another failure. Real god = your parents or your own expectations.

  Idols can't save us.

  b. RELIGIOUS IDOLS

  34% of U.S. population claims to be born again. If that were really the case wouldn't Christians be having a bigger impact on society than we do? Look at what was happening in Ephesus in Acts 19.

  We can think we are devoted to God, but instead we are looking to some good thing as more crucial to our security/value rather than having confidence in Christ.

  (We can be devoted to/make idols out of:)

  Religious idols:
  (1) Truth
  (2) Gifts
  (3) Morality

  (1) TRUTH/IDEOLOGY: "I am saved because of the rightness of my belief." Rather than seeing that it is Christ alone who saves you.

  Proverbs: Two marks of the scoffer/scorner/mocker:

  (a) Dogmatic and closed in his mind. Never admits he's wrong.

  (b) Always is disrespectful/disdainful to opponents. (Keller added here that sarcasm and bluntness is sometimes warranted, e.g.-Paul, II Cor. 10-13; Elijah at Mt. Horeb.)

  (We/I (!) need to watch ourselves as we identify others' religious idols, that we would not get puffed up/prideful, tempted, e.g.-Gal. 6. I think the key is I Cor. 16:14: Let all our things be done with love. We need to keep having Christ's love for people, forbearing, longsuffering. Filled with the Spirit of love. Truth balanced w/ grace. We need to be respectful toward others and genuinely grieved as we see they are blinded by the prince of this world. Lloyd-Jones talks about people being dupes of the devil, and even believers can be deceived for a time. Our role is to speak truth humbly in love and not to be overbearing. And pray that God would grant repentance, e.g.-I Tim 2:23-26.)

  Doctrinal pharisee: "Here's why I'm right..." Sense of superiority...We can make an idol out of the truth.

  (I've seen this very often in Reformed circles and I have been guilty of it. We can present the doctrines of grace without a lick of grace...and that does no good whatsoever.)

  (2) GIFTS

  Jonathan Edwards distinguished between gifts (charis) and fruits. We can mistake spiritual gifts for spiritual fruit.

  "Justification by ministry" rather than faith. (! Hard not to make ministry an idol!...God's gifts can become a snare...must be on guard always. The lion prowls.)

  "Look at all God is doing through me." We cannot make an idol out of any gift. e.g.-you want to be a great preacher like... Many aspire to preach like certain men...

  (3) MORALITY

  Garden variety legalism/moralism is reflected in the older son in the parable of the prodigal son. Taking moral righteousness and turning it into an idol.
  
  (I didn't have much written down under this point. I may have missed something...but I would add that when we don't preach the complete Gospel, when we teach only Jesus as Savior and not Lord, or Jesus as justifier and not sanctifier, when we neglect the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and push for self-sufficiency/moralism, then we fall into the trap of making morality an idol in the church and with it often comes the associated tendency to be puffed up and judgmental as was the case with the older son: "I never went and squandered by inheritance. I've always been faithful here at home, father. Why should we welcome that son of yours." (Notice the older son no longer called the younger son his brother). The older son remained at home yet he was prodigal as well, he had no real sense of sonship, he was still a slave. He was a slave to performance. Or another way to consider it...morality comes out in statements/attitudes such as:  "I'm better than you because I don't smoke. I'm better than you because I wear such and such type of clothing. I'm better than you because ... (fill in the blank)." That tendency toward outward performance, a form of godliness but denying the power.)
  
  c. CULTURAL IDOLS

  Family: evangelicals like it. The implications of family as an idol range from honor killings to gay bashing.

  Enlightenment took human reason and made it an ultimate thing. Cultural elites make science an idol. They teach that education can solve all our moral ills.
  Homo sapiens ~ sapiens = wise. Many put all hope in man's ability, but our gods always let us down. (Reminds me of ML-J, he constantly talked about the uselessness of education to reform society since we need an inner transformation to change peoples' hearts/character.)

  Western culture: The individual as an idol. The individual and my feelings are absolute; therefore we can't tell someone they are wrong. We can't offend them.

  Political swings. Some will idolize government as the answer, others individuals. Throughout history, we've had swings. (Keller was good on this, but didn't get it all down. If you tend to lean strongly to either side of the political spectrum, I would strongly urge you to listen to that. It's later in his talk.)

  
  3. DESTROY THE IDOLS

  Acts 19:30-31: When idols are opposed, it's dangerous. It's true that idols are empty yet they wield enormous power over us; through them the powers and principalities control us.

  Paul risked his life to break/defeat the power of idols.
  Jesus gave his life to defeat the power of idols. (Colossians 2:15).
  (I'm burdened as I see the idols in the church: legalism, false gospels, incomplete gospel...)

  Power and principalities are unleashed all their fury on Jesus and He died...yet in doing that He defeated them!!!

  *Jesus defeated them objectively on the cross...

  Keller referenced a book "Idolatry" (1992) by Moshe Halbertal & Avishai Margalit, two Jewish men. They wrote about Hosea, Ezekiel 16, Jeremiah 2 (hence Keller's earlier references to those passages). The authors found those Scriptures to be a conundrum. Adultery was a capital offense which deserved death. The wife had to die, God was betrayed, yet God wants reconciliation. The betrayed lover wants his wife back. How can that happen? They said it could not.

  They were blinded; they could not see that there is no conundrum in that whatsoever. That is the Gospel message. That is what God did for us when He sent Christ to die for us, to be punished in our place, to take the place of the adulterous wife, so we might be reconciled to God, the betrayed Lover! (Amen!) The true Bridegroom took the punishment. God punished our adultery and made us His true bride. Just and justifier. (Amen and Amen!)

  *Jesus defeated them subjectively; we need to appropriate His truth. The Spirit witnesses to us (of Christ's work on the cross to redeem us so we might have no other gods before Him; and therefore we must continue to identify, expose and destroy idols in our own lives and help others to do the same)

  Keller closed with the following statement:

  "If you live for your career (or whatever), your career can't die for your sins..."

  Thoughts, comments, questions? What say you?

  
  

  ---

  
  Related posts:
  

  • Napthali News - TGC: the books I got and THE Book (I discuss Keller's talk a bit here as well)
    

  
  On idolatry:
  

  • Thy Kingdom come - Our idols must go
  • Bible Reading Plan: I Samuel, part 1 (on idolatry)
  • Naphtali News: Songs about "What *I* Want," part 5: If the Curly Fry Doesn't "Satisfy," What Does?
  • Idolatry and Lust: The temptation to seek after results rather than God
  • "If I Don't Have Your Money, I Don't Have You"
  • Postcards from God at Vail and Madison: Leaving the Mountain Top for the City
  • Fourth Sunday of Advent: Are you preparing Him room?
  • Sin is determined. Are you? (Judges 1:27-36)
  • "What Is Success? What Is Making a Difference?" (many of these deal w/ success as an idol)
  • Kingdom-Obsessed People don't seek "great things" for themselves
  • wives, your husband is not your Husband | letter 77 on assurance & joy
  • Don't Waste Your Singleness | Single one ... be single-eyed
  • Coty Pinckney's "The Tragedy of Desiring a Great Family"

  
  On legalism/true and false religion
  

  • my deep concern for the churches (my concern over legalism in the Church)
  • Naphtali News: the Ministry of the Word & Prayer
  • Links to my posts on True & False Religion & Legalism
  • Good Friday: Are you glorying in the cross or in your works?
    

  
  

  • 5:51 PM
  • 2 Comments