Recently in food for thought Category

DJ Chuang has written an excellent post about looking to great preachers like Tim Keller to provide us with the "spiritual breakthrough" for which, it seems to me, Christians are too often desperate. The danger is, I believe, that we unintentionally exchange Tim Keller's preaching of the gospel (or whoever's) for the gospel itself, that is, we unwittingly exchange the insightful, penetrating preaching of Keller for the actual historical achievement of God in Jesus. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who appreciates Tim Keller's preaching more than I do, but we're not justified, sanctified, or glorified by the preaching of Keller or any other man no matter how insightful it may be. It's not the preaching of Piper or Keller or whoever that is the power of God unto salvation. It's the gospel alone that is the power of God to justify, sanctify, and glorify us. Now I realize that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). So I'm not trying to minimize the importance of preaching at all. The preaching of the gospel is essential, but it's not the preachingthat saves us. It's the preaching of the gospel.

One of the dangers of hearing preachers of great giftedness is that we are tempted to equate the experience of being intellectually stimilated by their sermons with spiritual transformation itself. It's really just a different strain of the problem Paul addresses in the first several verses of 1 Corinthians 13 ("If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love..."), namely, equating spiritual giftedness with true spirituality.

Anyway, let me encourage to read Chuang's post (as well as Keller's response in the comment section). It really connected with me because I'm tempted to do the same thing with preachers, like Keller and Piper, whom I really admire.

Here's the post: Even Keller can't break through

“Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons-much less secure than non-Christians, because they have too much light to rest easily under the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger. They cling desperately to legal, pharisaical righteousness, but envy, jealousy and other branches on the tree of sin grow out of their fundamental insecurity...it is often necessary to convince sinners (even sinful Christians) of the grace and love of God toward them, before we can get them to look at their problems. Then the vision of grace and the sense of God's forgiving acceptance may actually cure most of the problems. This may account for Paul's frequent fusing of justification and sanctification” (Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life).

I am spending a considerable amount of time this summer preparing to teach a class this fall on the book of Hebrews. I found myself reading a little of Leo Tolstoy in connection with my meditation upon Hebrews 2:14-18. If you want to set yourself up to see some of the gospel-beauty of Hebrews 2:14-18, first read the following lengthy quotation from Tolstoy and then read Hebrews 2...

“All this was happening to me at a time when I was surrounded on all sides by what is considered complete happiness: I was not yet fifty, I had a kind, loving and beloved wife, lovely children, and a large estate that was growing and expanding with no effort on my part. I was respected by relatives and friends far more than ever before. I was praised by strangers and could consider myself a celebrity without deceiving myself. Moreover I was not unhealthy in mind or body, but on the contrary enjoyed a strength of mind and body such as I had rarely witnessed in my contemporaries. Physically I could keep up with peasants tilling the fields; mentally I could work for eight or ten hours at a stretch without suffering any ill effects from the effort. And in these circumstances I found myself at the point where I could no longer go on living and, since I feared death, I had to deceive myself in order to refrain from suicide.

“This spiritual condition presented itself to me in the following manner: my life is some kind of stupid and evil joke that someone is playing on me. Despite the fact that I did not acknowledge any such ‘someone’, who might have created me, this concept of there being someone playing a stupid and evil joke on me by bringing me into the world came to me as the most natural way of expressing my condition.

“I could not help feeling that out there somewhere somebody was amusing himself by looking at me and the way I had lived for thirty or forty years, studying, developing, maturing in mind and body. And how no, with a fully matured intellect, having reached the precipice from which life reveals itself, I stood there like an utter fool, believing so firmly that there is nothing in life, that there never has been, nor ever will be. ‘And he laughs…’

“But whether or not this someone laughing at me really existed did not make it any easier for me. I could not attribute any rational meaning to a single act, let alone to my whole life. I simply felt astonished that I had failed to realize this from the beginning. It has all been common knowledge for such a long time. Today or tomorrow sickness and death will come (and they had already arrived) to those dear to me, and to myself, and nothing will remain other than the stench and the worms. Sooner or later my deeds, whatever they may have been, will be forgotten and will no longer exist. What is all the fuss about then? How can a person carry on living and fail to perceive this? That is what is so astonishing! It is only possible to go on living while you are intoxicated with life; once sober it is impossible not to see that it is all a mere trick, and a stupid trick! That is exactly what it is: there is nothing either witty or amusing, it is only cruel and stupid.

"The delusion of the joys of life that had formerly stifled my fear of the dragon no longer deceive me. No matter how many times I am told: you cannot understand the meaning of life, do not think about it but live, I cannot do so because I have already done it for too long. Now I cannot help seeing day and night chasing me and leading to my death. This is all I can see because it is the only truth. All the rest is a lie” (Leo Tolstoy, A Confession and Other Religious Writings, 30-32).

Mark Lauterbach of Gospel Driven Life has an excellent post on hypocrisy and the gospel. As someone who struggles with hypocrisy, I found his comments very insightful and helpful. He writes:

Jesus spoke severely against hypocrisy. I think there is one reason—we cannot be committed to creating a false impression of our goodness with others and simultaneously admit we are sinners before God. The Gospel destroys hypocrisy and frees us from the burden of being phony.

Jesus said we cannot have it both ways—if we live to win the respect and good opinion of others, then we have our reward—but God will pay us no heed. We cannot serve to masters. Whose approval do I seek? Whom do I wish to impress?

Why are we tempted to play the hypocrisy game? When it comes down to it, it is not because we do not want to bother other people with our own mess. It’s because we don’t want people to see us as we actually are, namely, as people who struggle—sometimes intensely—with lust, anger, pride, worry, etc. When we give into hypocrisy we can be sure that we are finding our identity in how we want people to perceive us in what we do or don’t do rather than finding it in the gospel, that is, in God’s saving action toward us in the Messiah. Mark continues:

If I am afraid to let others see the reality of sin in my life, my marriage, my children—it is because I am a slave to the god of "the esteem of man" and that god is a cruel tyrant. I have watched sin gain strength in my life and in the lives of others because they were too committed to their good image. Marriage conflicts became roots of bitterness—resistant children became hard hearted rebels—occasional lust became "addiction" to pornography—all because they are more committed to their image than to the truth about their sin in the presence of the Savior and his people.

What frees us from being a slave to hypocrisy? You know what I’m going to say don’t you? The Gospel. Only the gospel tells us both what we don’t want to hear, namely, that we are more idolatrous and sinful than we’ve ever thought, and also what we desperately want to hear, namely, that we are loved with an everlasting love, at the same time. If, on the one hand, I’m only confronted with my sinfulness, I will play the cover-up game of hypocrisy. Why? Because not only will I not be able to handle seeing myself as I really am, I won’t be able to handle others seeing me as I really am. If, on the other hand, I’m constantly assured of God’s love for me without also being confronted with the depth of my sinfulness, I will play the same cover-up game. Why? Because an awareness of my sin will make my sense of God’s love for me evaporate in an instant.

Only when we are confronted with the depth of our sinfulness and the magnitude of God’s love for us at the same time will we be able to step away from the hypocrisy game. The gospel alone is the one thing that faces us with those two truths simultaneously. Only in the gospel are we freed to let people get an accurate picture of what’s going on in the inside. So what must we do? Continually preach the gospel to ourselves and surround ourselves with people who will daily preach the gospel to us. Hypocrisy cannot survive in a gospel-centered community.

**See Mark's entire post here.

I’m sure you’ve heard a speaker say something like this before: “The [eighteen] inches that exist between your head and your heart is what is keeping you from being a truly sold out Christian.” Les Newsome of Common Grounds Online writes about the danger that accompanies this kind of head/heart dichotomy. I appreciate his application of gospel-centered thinking to this issue. Les writes:

“There’s nothing wrong with you spiritually right now that can’t be cured with 18 inches,” the dynamic youth communicator dramatically said. “The [eighteen] inches that exists between your head and your heart is what is keeping you from being a truly sold out Christian.”

Am I the only one who absolutely hated hearing this on just about every youth retreat I attended as a teenager? And since I’m feeling uppity today, I want to entertain the possibility that my irritation was not entirely ill-founded. This head/heart dichotomy is sub-Christian...

Go here to read the rest of his short article. The last two paragraphs are well worth the time it takes to read his post.

Here are a couple of my stated beliefs:

1. God in Christ alone is my salvation. 2. God has made Christ to be my righteousness, my worth, and my significance.

These are beliefs that I am quick to state and explain if provided an opportunity. I am quick to affirm verbally that there is no salvation for me apart from that which God has accomplished in the Messiah. He alone is my righteousness, worth, and significance. It is only in the Messiah that I am accepted in God’s sight. Only in him is true humanity progressively restored in me.

I could go on and on with statements like these, but I have learned that stated beliefs are often just that—stated. Those beliefs listed above are too often not functional in my life, that is, too often my thinking, desiring, and living do not flow out of them. So, I am learning to ask myself questions like these:

1. Where am I actually seeking my salvation in any given moment? 2. Where am I actually locating my righteousness, my worth, or my significance right now as I teach this class or lead my community group? 3. What am I thinking I must have right now in order to feel truly human?

Questions like these force me to move beyond thinking merely in terms of beliefs that I affirm intellectually. They aide me in discerning what my heart is currently functionally believing regarding where my salvation, righteousness, and worth are found. Too often I find myself seeking salvation in how people think of me or in how successful I am at this or that. Though my stated belief is that Christ is my significance, I often catch myself locating my significance in my performance as a husband or father or as a professor.

Fortunately (understatement), the gospel frees me to admit this and face it head on. Jesus once said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13). Seeking my salvation, righteousness, worth, or significance in anything other than God are symptoms of the sickness of which Jesus speaks, that is, they are symptoms of a profoundly fractured and corrupted humanity. My default mode as a fallen human being is to seek my salvation in something other than in God’s Son, to seek my worth and significance in my vocational performance rather than in Jesus. But this means that Jesus came to seek someone like me, to call someone like me. He came to restore in me that which was lost at the fall, namely, a humanity that is joyfully centered upon God.

So, because of who Jesus is and what he accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection, I am free to confess my sin of wayward seeking and locating and rejoice afresh in what God has made the Messiah to be for me. Amazingly, the good news of God’s accomplishment in Jesus is His power to progressively make my stated beliefs functional in my living.

These are posts that I personally wrote this past year (except for one). I gave myself about 5 minutes to rank them. It may be that you would rank them differently. In any case, here is my personal Top Ten list for 2005 posts.

#1 – NT Survey Lecture Summary – If you want to know what doctrine has had the greatest impact on me over the last 8 years and only have time to read one of my Top Ten Posts, this is the one to read. The truth of the Messiah’s vicarious humanity has been a life-giving fountain for me.

#2 – Real Men and Women are Gospel-Driven – I really do not like the title, but I do really love the content of the post. It represents my thinking on biblical interpretation and living… I’m currently revising these notes in preparation for presenting it at a pastors’ fraternal on January 24th.

#3 – Moralism Versus Christ-centered Exposition by Tim Keller – I ranked this post third because it fits very nicely with post two. Most significant (and why it makes the top ten lists for posts that I have written) are the comments that follow Keller’s thoughts. It generated some great discussion. Also, I must include Functional Gospel-Centeredness at #3 because it is an article that was heavily influenced by Tim Keller's exposition of Galatians 2 in his article entitled The Centrality of the Gospel.

#4 – Spiritual Blessings that Value the Physical Creation: A Gospel-centered View of the World – This post will tell you what most occupies my thoughts as of late. I will never read Ephesians or Colossians in the same way again.

#5 – Orphans, Adoption, and Fuling, China: James 1:27 – This one is about adoption. Need I say more? It’s really a short biblical theology of adoption.

#6 – Leadership in the Home: Morals-driven or Gospel-driven – Guess what one of my New Year’s resolutions is…

#7 – Sanctification: Becoming More Than a Mere Outline of a Human Being – If you want to know a little about how I view sanctification, curl up with this post with a cup of hot chocolate.

#8 – Preaching Matthew 18:15-20 from a Gospel-centered Perspective – What thinkest thou?

#9 – The Gospel of Deliverance – Deliverance is an absolutely wonderful thing! If you feel the need for it, Psalm 3 is a great place to go.

#10 – The Wonder of Bobble Heads – This post is last but it’s not least. It generated more hits than any other post this past year. Go figure…

Which of my Top Ten is your top choice?

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that says to me, “Lord, Lord”, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

This is one of the scariest verses in all of scripture – especially when it is interpreted with no special regard for the whole of scripture. These words were spoken to the multitudes (including the disciples) by Jesus in His “sermon on the mount.” Warnings about false prophets precede this verse and of course, Christ frequently had biting words for the scribes and Pharisees. So these sorts of people tend to be the ones we think of when we read this verse. But let’s look at how those closest to Jesus interpreted these chilling words.

In Luke 22:21 Jesus and the disciples are gathered at the last supper and He says, “the hand of him that will betray me is with me on the table.” In other words, “One of you who has been calling me Lord, Lord for the last three years is going to betray Me tonight.” Their reaction deserves some reflection, “.. they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.” Now that’s not so hard to believe in itself, though we might expect that they would more readily tend to suspect someone outside their group. But Mark records that they even began to look to themselves as suspects. “And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?” ( Mark 14:19). This is remarkable in at least two respects:

First, it’s remarkable that the disciples apparently recognized within themselves the capacity for betrayal. Though they still had over-inflated opinions of there own importance (Luke 22:24, Which of us will be greatest in your kingdom?), there was sufficient awareness of their own hearts’ condition that they would look within and see the capacity for such appalling self-deceit. While we may loathe Judas and any who take up his mantle, how honest are we in our self-assessment? We believe we have studied to show ourselves approved and done all these good works in His Name, yet when Jesus quietly, piercingly tells us that there are betrayers in our midst, do we honestly look within and tremble as we acknowledge that potential? Is our first response to flee to Jesus and plead His blood or, like the Pharisees, do we broaden our phylacteries and widen our hems and thank God that we are not like the publicans and sinners, who obviously are the betrayers?

What is more remarkable to me is that the disciples didn’t instantly suspect Judas. The name “Judas” has become synonymous with betrayal and deceit and corruption and greediness and carnality. No one (that I know of) names their child Judas. Maybe a pet cat or weasel, but not a child! From what little we now know on this side of history, we presume that Judas was the quintessential, self-serving used-car salesman and as easy to pick out of a crowd as they are in their plaid suit coats and loud ties. But the reaction of the disciples tells a different story – each of them considered themselves as capable of such treachery as Judas. There is no evidence anywhere in scripture that Judas was singled out by the disciples as the culprit. He was just another disciple – learning, growing, impetuous, trying, failing, fumbling, fickle, weak… just like all the rest. It can reasonably be assumed from Matthew 17 that all the disciples must have been given power to do miracles. If Judas had been excluded, doubts and questions would have flooded the minds of the remaining disciples, especially Peter. I can just hear him asking, “Lord, what’s the deal with Judas? Why can’t he do any of this miracle stuff? Is there maybe something fishy going on with him?” Isn’t it amazing that those who walked with Jesus and would later comprise the foundation of the Church (Eph. 2:20) were unable to differentiate between the true worshippers of God and those who were wolves in sheep’s clothing?

How quick are we to identify what we perceive to be the Judases in our circles? When betrayal and deceit are the sermon topics, do we bow in humble acknowledgement of the Jeremiah 17:9ness of our own hearts or do we immediately begin pointing and asking, “Is it him? Is it her? Is it them? Where are they Lord, I’ll take care of ‘em for you!”

For those who have been predestined from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4) to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29), who have been called and justified (Rom. 8:30), who have been given the down payment of their inheritance (Eph.1:13-14) in the Spirit to empower them and the Word to equip them, who have heard the sayings of Jesus and done them (Matt. 7:24), who have experienced the transforming promise that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6), to these awaits the warm welcome of Him who became sin (though he Himself never sinned) for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (II Cor. 5:21). He says, Welcome! I have always known you and I set my affection on you (Eph. 1:4-6). I have pursued you (Hosea) and drawn you to myself and made you alive so you could respond (Eph. 2:1-2). While the weakness of your flesh made you groan along with the rest of the sin-cursed creation (Rom. 8:22-23), my love eventually won you over. Now you are eternally set free from the curse, both your spirit and your body (Rev. 21:4, 22:3). Now enter into my joy, full and overflowing (I Pet. 1:7-9).
I know you!

*Rudy is a pilot and was an elder where I was formally a pastoral staff member (he's also a good friend).
Check out his wife's calligraphy here.

FIRST-PERSON: Reflections from a younger leader
By Ed Stetzer
Nov 9, 2005

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--Lots of people have been thinking, speaking and blogging about the whole “young leader thing.” I’ve done my fair share -- although speaking for young leaders is probably not a wise long-term strategy for a guy just 10 months away from turning 40.

Some have advocated convention change in how we affirm diverse and biblically sound strategies and how we do missional ministry together. Many have rightfully said that it is time for Southern Baptists to accept the fact that many of our best and brightest don’t wear suits, don’t use a hymnal, and have different methodologies than most of our existing churches. But the Lord also has spoken to my heart about how I, as a contemporary church pastor, need to change and learn as well.

In the foreword to my recent book ("Perimeters of Light: Biblical Boundaries for the Emerging Church" with Elmer Towns), Paige Patterson calls me a “son of the contemporary church.” He’s right. I’ve never planted or served as pastor of a church that was not contemporary, and God continues to place me in settings where that is our chosen ministry approach.

But, in all this talk about change, it is important to have some discernment as many young (and not so young) SBC leaders plant or transition to contemporary models. I am not talking about preaching against innovation or “smarmy” comments about worship bands. That is hurting our convention and squelching the conversation. But, I have learned along the way that:

-- Theology matters and can’t be assumed.

Unlike most SBC pastors, I wasn’t raised or redeemed in a Baptist church. I was raised nominally Catholic and came to Christ in a denomination that drifted away from the Gospel. All this talk about “broadening the tent” does not appeal to me. Been there, done that, seen the compromise that follows. If young leaders are not serious about theology, preaching and cooperation, then this denomination is not the place for them. As I wrote in SBC Life (Feb. 2003), doctrine matters to missions -- and it matters when we seek to be “missional” as well. I’ve learned that we need to constantly talk, think and learn better theology.

-- Preaching is more than retelling biblical principles.

I’ve preached a lot of sermons that were more about my opinions than God’s Word. Sure, they were based on biblical principles (“love your wife,” “don’t worry,” “work hard”) but not grounded in the biblical story of redemption. Then, Donna (my wife) told me, that after all our years together, she felt that she did not know the Bible well. As her pastor, I had taught her how to be a godly person, but not how to understand our God revealed in the Bible.

The need for biblical preaching has never been more urgent. Biblical preaching is more than common sense truth with biblical proofs taken out of context. Instead, it is letting the agenda and shape of Scripture determine the agenda and shape of the message. I’ve learned that I have not taken it seriously enough -- and I think I am not alone.

-- Making your church relevant does not mean making it easy.

No question -- most of our churches need to be more relevant to their communities and their cultures. According to a recent Leavell Center/New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary study, 89 percent of our churches are not experiencing healthy evangelistic growth. Part of the reason is that they have become marginalized from their communities.

Yet, in a noble desire to reach more people, too many innovative leaders (like me) tried too hard to make things relevant. We tried too hard to give them what they wanted. Missiologist/urban pastor Tim Keller rightly cautions, "Contexualization is not 'giving people what they want' but rather it is giving God's answers (which people may not want!) to questions they are asking and in forms that they can comprehend.” I’ve learned that I need to remember that relevance only matters if it reveals the one true Christ and His Gospel.

-- Most of us are too thin-skinned for real discussion.

I can’t say I have really mastered this one, but a robust theological discussion takes a thick skin. Denominations that care about doctrine must also care about practice. Theology determines methodology and if we want to change practice, it is important to have a theological basis to do so. That requires being willing to critique yourself honestly and to listen to others and their critiques. I’ve learned that sometimes I confused healthy theological correction with arguments over preferences ... and took the concerns more personally than I should. I think a lot of disconnected SBC young leaders might have done the same.

The denomination where I came to faith doesn’t worry about practice, but they don’t worry much about theology or morals anymore, either. I’m glad these things matter -- and I am glad we are having the conversation. I’ll take the Southern Baptist Convention any day -- and work through the conversation with more traditional leaders to figure out what a biblically faithful church looks like in emerging culture.

Ed Stetzer serves as director of research at the North American Mission Board. A missiologist, he is the author of several articles and books on missional ministry.

Recently I’ve wondered if there is a correlation between a superficial understanding of worldliness and an incomplete understanding of the significance and applicability of the gospel. In other words, I have wondered if the view that thinks of worldliness primarily in external terms (i.e. where you go; what you do; etc) is due, in some measure, to a failure to understand the breadth and depth of the gospel. It seems to me that there is a very strong correlation between the two, but before we consider the precise nature of it let’s briefly consider the biblical presentation of worldliness.

Key Text: “[15] Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. [17] And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

Key Question: Does John think of worldliness primarily in terms of that which is external?

First Things First: Identifying the Logical Connection between 1 John 2:15-17 and 1 John 5:21

John deals with three major themes in his first epistle: (1) walking in the light (holiness); (2) walking in love; and (3) walking in the truth. After clearly articulating what walking in holiness, love, and truth looks like, John closes his epistle with these words: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). This final statement is the first time that John specifically refers to idolatry. So either the exhortation to avoid idols is just one among the many others in 1 John tacked on the end because of its perceived importance, or it somehow functions as the umbrella command over every other command in the epistle. I’m convinced that it functions as the one command under which every other command in 1 John is to be understood and obeyed.

So what is the logical connection between 1 John 2:15-17 with 1 John 5:21? Notice, first, that in 1 John 2 John describes worldliness in terms of love and desire not in terms of that which is external. “Love not the world…for all that is in the world—the desires…the desires…and the world is passing away along with its desires.” His description of worldliness is not in terms of where we go or what we do, but in terms of what we love and desire. Is there an external dimension to worldliness? Yes, of course there is. But the external dimension is merely the outgrowth of love and desire. At the heart of worldliness is loving and desiring what is in the world above God. Consider Tim Keller’s insightful commentary on 1 John 2:15-17.

"Worldliness" is apparent whenever we take the good things of God and use them in ways he never intended them to be used. It is this misuse that John has in mind when he speaks of the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does. The problem of worldliness occurs when we don’t receive God’s gifts with thanksgiving and enjoy them in the context he intended. If the gift of wine is used for drunkenness, the gift of material objects becomes extravagance, the gift of sexuality used for adultery, the gift of work used to gain power, then we have misused good things to sinful ends. Worldliness does not just take place in Times Square, but in our hearts. In fact, both James and Jesus indict their hearers for the worldliness seen in their prayer lives. Wise Christians will be aware of how subtle and insidious the world can be in its ability to infect them, their thinking and their actions (Small Group Study on 1 John).

Notice, second, that idolatry is essentially “loving and desiring what is in the world above God.” This is the 10 Commandments perspective on idolatry which places it at the very center of all sin. The 1st commandment is the prohibition against worshipping anyone or anything other than God (“You shall have no other gods before me” – Exodus 20:3). The 2nd commandment is a prohibition against worshipping God idolatrously, that is, as we want Him to be. Put positively, the first two commandments call for us to love God as He actually is with all of our heart, soul, and might (Deuteronomy 6:5).

Now why does the 10 Commandments begin this way? Martin Luther believed it was because we never break commandments 3-10 unless we first break commandments 1-2. When children fail to obey their parents, it is because they had another god before their eyes. In other words, children disobey their parents because they love and desire something in the world (i.e. the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life) more than they love and desire God. The same could be said of each prohibition listed in the 10 Commandments. Every sin we commit is due to the fact that we love and desire something in the world more than we love and desire God.

It is critical that we see that idolatry is at the root of all sin and worldliness. This is how Paul explains the presence of sin from Romans 1. In verse 18, Paul states that the wrath of God is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. He then proceeds to reveal what is at the very root of all sin as he sums up humanity’s “fall” into sin, namely, idolatry. Verse 21 indicates that man was created to honor God as God and to give Him thanks but he chose not to. In verse 23, Paul says that man exchanged the glory of God for created things. In other words, man’s sin was an exalting the creature above the Creator. We were created first to worship and serve God, and then to exercise dominion over all created things (Genesis 1:26-28), but man chose not even to acknowledge God (Romans 1:28). Paul too speaks of sin in terms of idolatry.

So to “love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15), in John’s mind, is to commit idolatry (1 John 5:21). That is the logical connection between those two texts. John knows that if we fail to walk in light, love, and truth, it is because we have put another god before our eyes, that is, we have loved and desired something in the world more than God Himself. Therefore, he closes his epistle by saying, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Defining “worldliness”

John uses “world” in 1 John 2:17 (“and the world is passing away”) to refer to the world system as it is enslaved to idolatry. I want to argue that in John’s mind worldliness is any behavior, thought, or emotion that is controlled by something other than God. Thus, worldliness is not so much an external thing as it is an internal thing. Worldliness is not as external and visible as we would like to believe. I admit that life would be much less complicated if worldliness were, but it is not. If we fail to see that worldliness is essentially a matter of the heart, we will be tempted to call certain behaviors worldly when in reality they are not because the individual is not violating any specific commandment of Scripture and is acting in faith giving thanks to God.

Now obviously this does not apply to that which Scripture expressly forbids (i.e. fornication, adultery, murder, stealing, etc.). We have Scriptural warrant to call those behaviors absolutely worldly. This is clear. But, if a man enjoys the God-instituted marriage bed with his wife but does not do it with thanksgiving in his heart to God, is not that man being worldly? He absolutely is. His enjoyment of a very good thing is being controlled either by the idol of pleasure, power, or another idol. If a man enjoys Classical music while driving home from work in his car but does not do it with thanksgiving in his heart to God, is not that man being worldly? Yes. We are worldly whenever we do not do something, whether it’s eating or drinking or working or playing, to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), that is, we are worldly whenever we are not being governed by love and desire for God. To be worldly is to exalt something within God’s creation to a place of ultimacy. Whenever we do this, we eating or drinking or working or playing to the glory of that created thing whatever it may be. Glenn Tinder states it like this:

Our need for hope is so urgent, and our concern with transcendence so weak and erring, that hope readily becomes concentrated upon visible, worldly objects. When that happens, what is good becomes evil by being put in the place of God. A finite value is treated as though it were infinite, which is idolatry. In other words, we take things good in themselves, as elements in God’s universe, and try to incorporate them in a universe we ourselves have made and can control. This is what is meant by worldliness. We are all of us spontaneously idolatrous and worldly (The Fabric of Hope: An Essay, 41).

When we identify the logical connection between 1 John 2:15-17 and 1 John 5:21, we learn that John sees the problem of idolatry as the problem of inordinate desire, or to put it another way, the problem of over-desire. We are not just guilty of idolatry when we desire that which is forbidden, but also when we over-desire that which is good. To over-desire a good finite object is essentially to treat it as if it were an infinite good. This, I believe, is the essence of worldliness. David Naugle asks:

Could it not be true that “worldliness” rests not so much in personal temptations to debauchery, but instead lies in “an interpretation of reality that essentially excludes the reality of God from the business of life” (Worldview: The History of a Concept, 278-279)?

In his book, The Way of the (Modern) World: Or, Why It's Tempting to Live As If God Doesn't Exist, Craig Gay argues that:

“The world” that Christians are called to be in but not of is, in effect, an interpretation of the realm of human affairs that places far too much emphasis upon human agency and far too little (if any) upon God’s…The most insidious temptations to “worldliness” today do not necessarily come in the form of enticements to sexual dissipation…but rather in the form of the suggestion that it is possible—and indeed “normal” and expedient—to go about our daily business in the world without giving much thought to God. Under modern, and now “postmodern” conditions…“the world” is an interpretation of human life that is largely void of the living God, and “worldliness” is characterized by practical atheism (The Way of the (Modern) World: Or, Why It's Tempting to Live As If God Doesn't Exist, 4-5).

According to Paul, one of the clearest evidences of idolatry, and therefore worldliness, is the failure to give thanks to God. In his discussion of the idolatry of men, Paul states that although men “knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him” (Romans 1:21). If you recall, I asked the following question a few paragraphs ago: “If a man enjoys the God-instituted marriage bed with his wife but does not do it with thanksgiving in his heart to God, is not that man being worldly?” The clear answer, according to Paul, is a strong “Yes!” Do you ever drink coffee, golf, read a novel, eat potato chips, surf the internet, watch The Lord of the Rings, play with your kids, or enjoy an ice cream cone without thanksgiving in your heart to God? What we need to recognize is how deeply and profoundly worldliness permeates our lives.

Idolatry, Worldliness, and Identity

The purpose of this extended discussion on idolatry and worldliness is to demonstrate that both are a matter of the heart. We must be very careful not to associate worldliness primarily with external behaviors such as going to movies, drinking beer, or listening to rhythm dominant music. This is not to say that most who go to movies, drink beer, and listen to rhythm dominant music are not being worldly. I think we would all agree that most people who engage in these activities are probably doing so in worldliness, but we err if we forget that the biblical worldview says that we cannot single out any part of life whether “sacred activity” or “secular activity” and call the first holy and the second profane. Rather, we must recognize that sin has touched all of life (including church going and milk drinking) and aggressively discern the idols of our hearts regardless of whether we are engaging in “sacred” or “secular” activities. Scripture’s teaching on idolatry and inordinate desire will not allow us to say (1) that all movie going, beer drinking, and listening to rhythm dominant music is worldly, and (2) that all church going and milking drinking is not. Why not? Because worldliness is primarily a matter of the heart, and our idols are not respecters of activities. This biblical understanding of the internal nature of idolatry and worldliness should prevent us (1) from labeling someone worldly just because the individual is involved in an activity that we consider worldly, and (2) from calling any activity not explicitly forbidden in Scripture worldly just because we personally associate it with worldliness.

When we think of worldliness primarily in terms of externals, we most often fail to see how faithfully serving in the church, or being a family man, or engaging in acts of mercy can be shot through with a worldly mindset. Our mindset can be said to be worldly whenever we are getting a sense of identity from something other than God in Christ. For example, would your sense of identity be intact if you were no longer allowed to serve in the church? Would your sense of identity be intact if your children went wayward? Would your sense of identity be intact if you no longer had the physical ability to engage in acts of mercy and because of that became dependent upon the mercy-acts of others? A true sense of identity does not come from what we do no matter how noble our intentions and actions are. It can only be found in what God has done for us in Christ. Whenever we seek our identity in something other than God, we are being worldly.

Seeking our identity in something other than God is essentially what idolatry is. If you read Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians with this relationship between identity and idolatry in mind, you will find that the Corinthians’ many problems stem from seeking their identity outside what God has given them in Christ. Before Paul begins to address the specific sins of which they are guilty, Paul reminds the Corinthians that God is the source of their “life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). The Corinthians were operating functionally from an identity that found its source in the world rather than from the identity they had already been given in Christ. Victor Paul Furnish writes:

Here, as throughout the excursus, Paul means the crucified Christ who is “God’s wisdom and God’s power.” Because they are in Christ, their relationship to the world has changed…Although they remain in this present, passing age, it can no longer claim them as its own. Their identity is now established in their belonging to Christ, their lives are now marked by the sign of the cross (Theology of the First Letter to the Corinthians, Victor Paul Furnish, 43).

The Corinthians had functionally adopted an identity offered to them in the world over the identity already provided for them in Jesus. This is idolatry.

Consider what Paul writes in Galatians 6:14. “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Tim Keller comments:

In vv.13b-14, Paul says that the heart of your religion is what you boast in. In other words, what, at bottom, is the reason that you are in a right relationship with God? If the cross is just a help but you have to complete your salvation with good works, it is really your works which make the difference between your being in God or out of God. Therefore, you “boast about your flesh” (v.13b), your own efforts. But if you understand the gospel, you “boast” exclusively and only in the cross. Here we come very close to the modern category of self-image and to the idea of basing your identity in Christ. Our identity is based on what gives us a sense of dignity and significance--what we boast in. Religion leads us to boast in something about us. The gospel leads us to boast in the cross of Jesus. That means our identity in Jesus is confident and secure--we do "boast!”--yet humbly based in a profound sense of our flaws and neediness (Small group study on Galatians).

Concerning “by which the world has been crucified to me,” Keller states:

[Paul] is not talking only of what the people of the world think, though that is certainly involved. He is saying that there is nothing in the world now that has any power over me. Notice he does not say that the world is dead, but that it is dead to him. The gospel destroys its power. Why? As we have been saying all along, if nothing in the world is my righteousness or salvation, if there is nothing in the world that I boast in, then there is nothing in the world that controls me—nothing that I MUST have (Ibid.).

To find our identity in anything other than in what God has provided for us in Jesus is to be both worldly and idolatrous. Why? Because it exalts what is temporal or finite to the place of ultimate value. Identity replacement (replacing our God-given identity for an identity offered to us in the world) is essentially God replacement, which is idolatry (Consider the golden calf incident: Exodus 32).

We must be very careful not to associate worldliness primarily with that which is external. It is clear in Scripture that idolatry is not primarily an external matter. It is primarily a matter of the heart (Ezekiel 20:16; 36-37). The internal existence of idolatry is present long before its external manifestation.

How Do We Keep Ourselves from Idolatry?

What is John’s solution to the cosmic problem of idolatry and worldliness? What hope is there for those who are often “spontaneously idolatrous and worldly”? In other words, is there any encouragement for those who have “idol factory” hearts? Consider the first two verses of chapter 2:

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. [2] He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

To us who are often “spontaneously idolatrous and worldly” John speaks of a reality that is of infinite value. John calls us who will continue to struggle, sometimes fiercely, with the problem of idolatry to look outside of ourselves to the one who has become righteousness for us. Whenever God’s grace brings us to face the painful reality of our idolatrous desires it also reminds us that “we [are having] an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” In commenting on 1 John 2:2, Tim Keller writes:

John is a realist. He knows he and his readers will sin. Having mentioned that we should not sin, he immediately goes on to tell us what recourse we have when we do sin. What is the recourse? Applying the gospel to yourself through faith and repentance. John points to those burdened by sin back to the basic truth of justification by faith. By an act of free grace, God pardons our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight on the basis of what Christ has done on the cross. Through no effort of our own, we are made children of God whom he loves and in whom he delights” (Small group study on 1 John, Tim Keller).

John’s solution to idolatry is found in the one who is our Advocate before the Father, Jesus the Righteous. It is his blood that cleanses us from all iniquity and therefore idolatry (1 John 1:7, 9). It is his righteousness that is the basis for our full acceptance before the Father (idolaters though we be). When John refers to Jesus as “the righteous,” he is saying, in part, that idolatry never found an entrance into Jesus’ heart. When he was tempted by the devil to be idolatrous, Jesus responded, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve’” (Luke 4:8). Jesus never failed to worship and serve the Lord his God. He never failed to find his identity solely in his relationship with the Father. The primary term by which Jesus addressed God the Father was Father. He always lived in the tender and profound awareness of God the Father as his Father. Jesus lived functionally out of “the communion of love” that he enjoyed with the Father and the Spirit. T.F. Torrance writes:

In the Fourth Gospel the teaching of Jesus centers throughout on his intimate relation as the incarnate Son to the Father which he described in terms of their existing and dwelling in one another and of their seeing, knowing and loving of one another. “As the Father knows me, so I know the Father…I and my Father are one…the Father is in me and I am in him” (The Christian Doctrine of God, 164).

The great miracle of the gospel is that because of the work of the God-Man in his incarnate being, living, and dying for us, we are given the right to be called the children of God and are brought to share in the eternal communion of the Godhead’s love. Because of Jesus “the one eternal God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is our God and our Father” (Ibid., 140). Where Adam and Israel failed and we fail to live functionally out of the love of God, Jesus, the God-Man, did not. And in and through his incarnate Person and Work the Son brings us to share in and enjoy his fellowship with the Father (1 John 1:1-4).

When we remember that we are having “an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,” at least two things happen. First, we are emboldened to confess and repent of our idolatry knowing with full confidence that our fellowship with God will be restored. Second, we are sanctifyingly reminded afresh of the priceless identity that Jesus is for us before the Father. When we consider the fact that Jesus is our identity before the Father, it’s not that Jesus has successfully offered himself to God the Father as our identity but that God the Father Himself has made Jesus to be our identity. This means that the Father’s disposition toward us is no different than the Son’s disposition toward us. As a matter of fact, they share the same disposition toward us. The Father was not coerced to welcome us into the fellowship of the Trinity. No, the Father Himself is the very source of the life that we have “in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:30). It is through this sanctifying remembrance of the gospel that the attractiveness of idolatry loses its power.

It is only the gospel of our Righteous Advocate with the Father that cuts at the roots of idolatry in our hearts sanctifyingly showing us (1) the futility of seeking to establish our own identity in the world apart from God’s gift in Christ, and (2) the superiority of the identity God has already provided for us in Christ. I am convinced that the view that thinks of worldliness primarily in external terms is due to the failure to understand the breadth and depth of the gospel. It is due to the failure to see that the gospel penetrates to the very center of what is wrong with us as fallen creatures and unbelievably sets things right. The Bible teaches that we are idolaters at the very core of our being. And only the gospel of God is able to restore such a profoundly idolatrous people to a right relationship with God both in position and experience.