There are times in our lives where God calls us into the tension of life…to go deeper in wrestling with who He is and what He has done for us…These moments can be wonderful moments, but not easy moments. A professor of mine called it “Blessed Despair” (Discovery yet limited). When you get in the ring to wrestle with God, if you will…it has a way of stretching your mind, stirring your soul, and expanding your thinking, and deepening your heart.
For me personally, there has probably not been a greater subject that has caused me more wonder, awe, reverence while at the same time inquiry, contemplation, and searching than the subject of grace.
Grace…such a common word in Christendom…Probably one of the most beautiful and powerful words in our entire language and certainly in Christian theology…
Grace…songs are written about it (amazing grace…your grace is enough…grace, grace, God’s grace…); sermons focus on it; churches put it in their name; our doctrinal foundation and salvation depends on it. This one word expresses the experience of every Christian, in every place, at every age and with every language…
But is it possible this magnificent concept can actually become dangerous? Is it possible that the very grace on which our lives rest, has unintentionally risen to a place it was never meant to be? Could it be that we have misaligned the grace of God? Could grace actually be an idol?
Now for some of you…you see the title…you hear the words grace and dangerous in the same sentence as if grace is like falling into a home with your mother in law who hasn’t eaten a snickers bar…and you might think I have lost my theological mind…are you trying to get fired…or that ministry has finally did me in…you question where I’m going with this…I want to invite you into a wrestling match with grace...I’m not asking that you agree with everything that is said…but I am asking you to wrestle with what God’s grace looks like…doctrinally in Scripture…and practically in your life. And what I can promise you is that, if you get in the ring over the course of the next few weeks…I believe you understanding of grace will become more full and your view of God will expand.
Throughout the centuries much debate has existed about many doctrinal truths of which grace is at the core of doctrine…To every great doctrine…like grace…there can be a shadow side…a humanly twisted side…a manipulation of terms if you will…and I believe this is true of grace…our focus will be on the shadow side of God’s good grace…how we manipulate grace…and abuse grace for our own benefit instead of the purpose and glory of God. Namely, I want to confront the notion and ask a deep question… Have we somehow relegated grace to merely a system of belief with very little impact on our behavior? Has grace become merely an idea, a word, a song, a doctrinal point, or something that now stands on it’s own with little connection to the One who made it grace in the first place?
What is idolatry?
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, who was a pastor at Westminster Chapel in London, gives a helpful definition about what an idol is. He says, “An idol is anything in my life that occupies a place that should be occupied by God alone…An idol is something that holds such a controlling position in my life that it moves and rouses and attracts me so easily that I give my time, attention, and money to it effortlessly.”
Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and author of Counterfeit Gods said,
What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give…An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I ‘ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” He goes onto say in that book…anything can be a god that rules and serves as a deity in the heart of a person or in the life of a people.
(Pages xvii and xviii of Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters)
Idolatry – Exchanging what was given by God to reflect His glory and satisfy our enjoyment in Him for our selfish desires, self-assurances and self-serving intentions.
In essence… Simply put, an idol is whatever or whoever you and I give central value to in our lives over God. And because we do that, rest of our life is completely directed and controlled by it. What controls our heart controls our lives. These are but few words, but a big principle
As John Calvin said, “The heart of man is a perpetual factory of idols.” Give us the chance, and we’ll replace God with any and every object, person, ideal, or dream.
The scripture warns us as believers of idols…
And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:1-3
In other words, idolatry is always the reason we ever do anything wrong. Why does this come first in the order? Because, he argued, the fundamental motivation behind law-breaking is idolatry. No one grasped this better than Martin Luther. In his Larger Catechism (1528) and also his Treatise on Good Works he wrote that the Ten Commandments begin with a commandment against idolatry.
The failure of idols to bring lasting satisfaction. All idols ultimately disappoint us. All idols ultimately enslave us.
I want to spend the majority of our time talking bout the complexity of idolatry…as it relates specifically to grace…It’s one thing to know the concept of idolatry…but it’s completely different to know how convoluted it is and how deep it goes…
Now how what does this have to do with grace?
GRACE AN IDOL?
Genesis 1
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29 And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:26-31
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:15-17
barak – kneel, bless, and prosper
It has this idea of grace…God blessed them…he graciously gave to them…
So what is grace?
Grace – THE UNMERITED, UNDESERVED, AND UNEARNED GIFTS OF GOD \
Immediately in Genesis 1 and 2 we find that grace is not just a word we are meant to explain…but an experience we are meant to have…
This grace shows up in Genesis 1 and 2 in two ways…blessing – “I give you dominion” and warning – command – “I give you every tree in the garden except for one…don’t eat it”
THE DISTORTION OF GRACE
But watch what happens…one chapter later…
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:1-6
sakal – understanding, attractiveness, prosperity and success
Grace can have a dark side…a shadow side if you will…when it meets our idolatrous hearts….
Grace – the moment grace meets idolatry sin happens
Grace (gift of God) + idolatry (gift becomes bigger more important than the giver) = sin
Every sin stems from warping God’s gracious gift of dominion or warning…genesis 3 (many examples) She manipulates grace…
- God blesses or warns…distorted by selfish desires, self-assurances and self-serving intentions…leads to sin
- VISIBLE GRACE BASED IDOLS
Marriage – grace distorted – gift of spouse…becomes the idol of strife and leads to sin
Relationships – grace distorted – gift of friends…becomes the idol of our identity and leads to sin
Work – grace distorted – gift of worship toward God…becomes the idol of emptiness and leads to sin
Money – grace distorted…gift of resources from God…becomes an idol we seek to have more of
Image – grace distorted – gift of being made in God’s image…yet becomes the idol of shaming
Sex – grace distorted – gift of reproduction and enjoyment…becomes the idol of satisfaction
- INVISIBLE GRACE BASED IDOLS
Power – grace distorted – dominion, influence - What people with a deep idol are really seeking is success, achievement, influence, and these things drive us. This lust for these things drives everything else that we do.. "I'll bear it. I'll do it. I'll handle it. I've got it. If it can make more of me, if it can build me up, give me more influence, more power, I'll do it. The greatest nightmare of somebody who worships power is humiliation. It's not just about winning; it's about not losing.
Control – grace distorted - People with a deep idol of control are seeking self-discipline and certainty. They just want to know how things are going to go. They want to be in control of their little world, and it drives so much of how we live. The greatest nightmare is uncertainty
Purpose – grace distorted – approval – Go after their worth and identity in what others think of them… Others often feel smothered by you. You are asking them to be what's not humanly possible for them to be.
Comfort – grace distorted - Worshipers of comfort see other people, even those closest to them, as potential obstacles to their comfort. Not surprisingly, then, authentic relationships do not come easily and, as a result, the person is only invested if the relationship provides an adequate layer of insulation.
How does this happen? Well Paul answers this…
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:18-21
Notice what they knew God…His grace and mercy…they did not honor him…or give thanks…
What does that mean?
- They didn’t glorify God
- They didn’t give him thanks
They didn’t direct the attention of what was given to them back to God…
How? Verse 25…
They exchanged…
…because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. Romans 1:25
We exchange the gracious gifts from the Creator and elevate them to a status they were never meant to be…and what happens… GRACE + IDOLATRY = SIN
BIG IDEA: GRACE BECOMES AN IDOL WHEN WE EXCHANGE GOD FOR THE GRACIOUS GIFTS FROM GOD
When the creation becomes more important than the Creator.
We have exchanged God’s purpose for our preferences.
We have exchanged God’s praise for our pleasures
In what way has grace been distorted…twisted…and maligned…and now the gift of God has become an idol for you?
Relegate grace from the action of God to simply our knowledge of God…from a motion of our lives to a definition of a word…
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:19-21
1. Identify the idol
2. Connect the idol to the area of misaligned and misapplied grace
3. Displace the idol with the proper perspective of God’s grace, namely God Himself
Every sin comes from a small view of God…every issue in my life comes form a small view of Christ…
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in Glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:1-5
The best way to overcome the idolatry is not with morality or self-discipline or even by claiming more grace. Christians overcome the world by seeing the beauty and excellence of Christ and that every gift is his offering. We overcome our world by seeing something more attractive than the world: "Christ.”
The gospel essentially gives us all things that we’re looking to these other saviors to give us. It actually does give us what they can’t ever give us. He says, “The gospel is the good news that, in His life, by His death and with His resurrection, Jesus Christ secured for sinners all the approval, justification, affection, achievement, freedom, meaning, righteousness, rescue, purpose and protection that we are longing for.” All these things that we’re longing for are found in Jesus Christ. And if we want to displace the idols, even the deep idols that are in our heart, Jesus Christ has become more beautiful to us, more hope-giving to us than these other things.
