As promised in my last thought, this thought will deal with some of the keys to true heart change (and thus life change).
It comes to you from the same book as last week, Paul David Tripp's -- "Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands -- People In Need of Change Helping People In Need of Change."
If you have ever found yourself struggling with a sin that never seems to go away, or one where you seem to gain victory over it for a while, only to have it resurface as strong as ever when you go through stressful situations or encounter similar temptations, it is likely because you are simply seeking to control your environment, or outward behaviors, without casting down the internal heart-idols that feed those behaviors. Tripp explains how this works. Enjoy.
The Heart of the Matter
"Though
the Bible has much to say about the heart, few Christian books on marriage and
family, communication, conflict resolution, or even discipleship focus on it.
These practical books seldom display an understanding of the centrality of the
heart and how it operates... An interesting Old Testament passage can help us
do this. "Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in
front of me. Then the word of the LORD came to me: 'Son of man, these men have
set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their
faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? Therefore speak to them and tell
them, 'This is what the sovereign LORD says: When any Israelite sets up idols in
his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a
prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry.
I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all
deserted me for their idols.' " (Ezek. 14:1-5).
These
elders of Israel have come to the prophet Ezekiel with questions they want to
ask God. It would seem they are doing the right thing. But God recognizes that
there is something wrong with them... They have idols in their hearts, a more
personal and fundamental form of idolatry than ritual religious or cultural
idolatry. An idol of the heart is anything that rules me other than God. As
worshiping beings, human beings always worship someone or something. This is not
a situation where some people worship and some people don't. If God isn't
ruling my heart, someone or something else will. It is the way we were
made...
Sin
is fundamentally idolatrous. I do wrong things because my heart desires
something more than the Lord. Sin produces a propensity toward idolatry in all
of us. We all migrate away from worship and service of the Creator toward
worship and service of created things (Rom. 1:21-25). This is the great
spiritual war beneath every battle of behavior -- the war for control of the
heart... The deepest issues of life are issues of worship. Worship is
more fundamental to our essential nature than the pain, pressures, or pleasures
of our experiences. What we worship determines our responses to all our
experiences. Sin is much more than doing the wrong thing. It begins with
loving, worshiping and serving the wrong thing. Sin in some way always involves
idolatry.
The
Ezekiel passage gives God's response to the elders. Because these men have
idols in their hearts, God says he is going to answer them "in keeping
with their great idolatry." What does this mean? God is
saying, "Because you have idols in your hearts, the only thing I want to
talk about is your idolatry." Why?... Why would God refuse to
talk to them about anything but their idols? A crucial phrase explains God's
response and reveals much about how the heart functions: "These men have
set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their
faces" (Ezek. 14:3). Imagine that someone places his hand up to his face
so that he is looking through his fingers. What will happen to his vision? It
will be seriously obstructed, and the only way to clear it is to remove his
hand. In a similar way, an idol in the heart creates a stumbling block
before the face. Until the idol is removed, it will distort and obscure
everything else in that person's life. This is the principle of inescapable
influence: Whatever rules the heart will exercise inescapable influence over
the person's life and behavior.
I
once counseled a successful executive from New York City. He was the most
controlling man I ever met. He had been married for thirty years and
handled all the financial, parenting, and decorating decisions of the family.
He was so obsessed with control that he would rearrange his wife's clothes
closet according to his prescribed plan (blouses, skirts, pants, and dresses,
in graduated shades of color)! Now imagine that I did not know all this as I
spoke to his wife. His controlling tendencies would not be in my mind as I
listened to her complain that she and her husband never talk and that many
conflicts are left unresolved. What would happen if I rolled up my counselor's
sleeves and gave her husband good biblical instruction on communication and
conflict resolution? Would this lead to changes in his marriage? The
answer is no, because he would use his new understanding and skills to get what
his heart worshiped. Because my counsel would not have addressed this man's
idols of the heart, it would only produce a more successful controller.
As long as the desire for dominance ruled his heart, he would use whatever
principle and skills he learned to establish even greater control over his
family.
If
we fail to examine the heart and the areas where it needs to change, our
ministry efforts will only result in people who are more committed and
successful idolaters. This is why God will only answer the elders of Israel in
keeping with their heart idolatry. If they do not change there, whatever God
tells them will only be used to serve the idols that rule their hearts...
Idols
are god-replacements... They command my daily devotion, shape my daily routine,
and guide the way I interact with life, though they have no power whatsoever to
deliver... God's Word alone insists that we are always serving God or
some aspect of the creation, and whatever rules our hearts, will exercise
inescapable influence over our lives and behavior... This is why the
principle of the Ezekiel passage is so important, and why the focus of God's
transforming grace is heart change. Our spiritual battle is a war for the
heart. When that is won people will behave in ways that please their Creator.
God will never be satisfied with the crumbs of externalism."
Trying to change our
external behaviors without repenting of, or dethroning the idols that feed our
desire to do sinful things, is a venture in futility. It's like trying to cool
down a boiling pot of water by fanning it, while refusing to douse the fire
that heats it from below! Quench the fire -- get rid of the fire
-- and the pot will cool by itself. Unfortunately, though, many Christians
(ignorant of their idols) don't even see the fire that making all their efforts
at external control useless. They don't know what their idols are.
So, if you do have a
sin that you never seem to be able to conquer, it's likely because you have
never dislodged the idol (or idols) that feed it. In fact, its the sins we
struggle with the most that indicate the presence of a firmly entrenched
heart-idolatry (ie: a respect idolatry, performance idolatry, perfection
idolatry, control idolatry, wealth idolatry, beauty idolatry, popularity
idolatry, tranquility idolatry, prestige idolatry, family idolatry, competition
or sports idolatry, sensuality idolatry and so forth)!
And what's the
cure? Pray, ask God to help you identify your idol(s), repent for
overvaluing them or placing them on a plain of value higher than God, and then
turn away from them. Sweep them off the altar of your heart and repent
for ever having let them gain such an elevated place there. Only then will you
see true heart change. And remember, if you inquire of the Lord, while
harboring idols in your heart, the only thing He will speak to you about is
those idols -- for until they are removed (like that hand from in front of your
face) you won't be able to see clearly, or respond rightly, even if He does
speak to you and grant you knowledge of other things.
That we might
experience true deliverance and heart change, Pastor Jeff
