Tim keller asserts that all human and society has idolatry, personal, religious and cultural idols. The idols often block our sight and ways to see and enter the narrow door. He mentioned that even truth can be the idol. I learn from the prodigal God that religion and self righteousness is the great stumbling block to enter the kingdom of God. We should demolish all the power and authorities by the cross of Jesus Christ. We should demolish the idol through deep repentance and enter through the narrow door by following the foot step of Jesus Christ. 3 Kinds of Idols You Have to Expose to Preach the Gospel:
Personal Idols
Religious Idols
Cultural Idols
Personal Idols
Money can be an idol, especially in the business world. Everyone recognizes this as the idol of Wall Street. (All over New York City, child sacrifice is going on. If you want to succeed, you have to sacrifice your family. If you're going to get the money and power, you must sacrifice your children. Jobs are set up that way.) How do you do your job without bowing down to it—how do you demythologize money? Only by living in the gospel.
Romance is another idol. This is when you look to your lover or spouse for worth. Only they can make you feel valuable. You cannot lose this person. People who have a good marriage must constantly fight this idol, constantly looking to Jesus and finding their satisfaction in Jesus more than their spouse.
Self-expression is an idol of the artistic community.
Children can be idolized when you find your significance and meaning in your children. You know you're worth something if your children turn out well.
Religious Idols
Those who worship religious idols think they are devoted to God, but they're not.
Truth can be made an idol. Are you resting in the rightness of your doctrine rather than the work of Jesus? If so, the Bible calls you a fool. In Proverbs, "the scoffer" is a person like this. The scoffer is always sure he is right, and always disrespectful, disdainful, and mocking toward his opponents. The internet breeds scoffers, because if you're a scoffer you get more traffic to your blog.
Gifts can be an idol. You can mistake spiritual gifts for spiritual fruit. Especially if you are successful in ministry, you can begin believing in justification by ministry: "I know I'm in God's will because my ministry is going well." Many of us in the Reformed world make an idol out of being a great preacher: "If I could just be a great preacher, then my life would have significance."
Morality is a religious idol. It's typical for Christians to feel like that God loves them and will bless them because of their moral record.
Cultural Idols
Evangelicals love to talk about cultural idols. We look back at the idols of the Enlightenment: the elevation of human reason, the belief that reason/science will solve all the world's problems. Today we see the idol of individualism. We attack Western individualism, but in many traditional cultures family is an idol—so you have honor killings, women treated as property, etc. In individualistic cultures like our own, the individual is an idol. No one can tell anyone else they're wrong, no one can impose their beliefs about God on anyone else.
Any ideology can be an idol: free-market economics, communism, socialism, democracy, liberalism, etc.
Which idols we are struggle with? Do you agree or disagrew with Tim's message on Acts 19?
Further readings on Idols:
See Keller' books: Prodigal God and the Reason for God.
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