Idol Destruction 101 Part 5

Mike Leake

So far we have noted that you do not destroy idol’s by a selfishly morbid introspection that attempts to search out idols, surrender everything to God, and then passively sit by and watch him destroy idols.  Yet, we did note that God is the one that fundamentally destroys idols.  This all begs the question—what then do I do in destroying idols? 

For this series I conducted a brief jaunt through the Bible and analyzed every passage that I found on idolatry.  I noticed that in the Torah the Israelites were commanded to cast out any idol and any person trying to entice others towards idolatry that was found in their midst.  By the time of the Prophets the Israelites for the most part have fallen headlong into idolatry.  At this point while the Lord tells them to cast down their idols—he is more direct in His strategy. 

The twofold strategy of idol destruction

There are two things that I see the Lord consistently doing through His prophets:

  1. Exposing the emptiness of idols
  2. Exalting His fullness at their expense

This seems to me to be the most prominent strategy the Lord employs in conquering idols in the hearts of his people.  Psalm 115 is a beautiful picture of the convergence of both of these strategies.  In the first section of Psalm 115 the Lord exposes the emptiness and nothingness of idols and those that follow them.  In the second section of Psalm 115 he reminds the Israelites of the work and blessing that He has accomplished on their behalf.  Whereas the idols are empty to prosper, YHWH is powerful to abundantly bless. 

You can see this same thing throughout both the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets.  YHWH is powerful, full, complete, awesome, and sufficient for all of our needs.  Idols are empty, futile, nothing, and impotent.  Therefore, the prophets consistently preach to the people the fullness of God and the utter stupidity and impotence of idols. 

Our strategy

This leads me to believe that the way to join with God in his work of idol destruction is to actively preach the gospel to ourselves.  As we preach the gospel to ourselves and to our idols we are reminded first that we are in His hands and no idol is powerful enough to pluck us from those mighty hands.  Secondly, we shame our idols.  We mock them.  We load them down with weight that only the Lord can bear.  Then they topple.  Thirdly (perhaps simultaneously) we remind ourselves of the sufficiency of God.  In Jesus we have everything we need for life and godliness.  In Him dwells the fullness of God and we are hidden in that fullness. 

Rather than focusing on my inadequacy or my shameful lust after idols I instead preach the fullness of the gospel to myself and my tantalizing idol.  I expose the idol and I exalt the Lord.  Somewhere along the way the magnificence of the Lord wins the day and Dagon has no hope but to topple before the Mighty King Jesus. 

I want to make this even more practical.  I hope to do that in Part 6…

Review of Gospel-Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson

Mike Leake

“How are you and God doing?” 

That is a question I have been asked numerous times in various accountability type groups.  I have to be honest.  I’m really never sure how to answer it.  Do I just say, “uhmmm pretty good.  He died for me and because of His work I know that I’m ‘doing good’ with God”?  Or do I look into my Christian activity?  Do I be honest and say that on Thursday I lived like an atheist and pretty much thought like one?  So, I’m not really sure how God and I are doing.

That question and my muddy responses displays the difficulty (problem?) with many accountability groups.  They either become places of legalistic sin searching or surface relationships of cheap grace.  I’m either beat with the stick of “accountability” for my bought with anger towards my kids last week or I find false fellowship and cheap grace because my accountability partner struggles with anger too.  Though I leave my accountability group with more moral resolve (though beaten to a pulp) or a false peace because I’m “not alone in my struggle” my sin still runs rampant and wild because it has never been confronted with the gospel. 

Summary:

Jonathan Dodson in his book Gospel-Centered Discipleship presents a model for discipleship and fighting sin that steers clear of legalism and license and finds its center in the gospel.  Though only 150 pages Dodson gives not only a model for discipleship he also shares a theology and the biblical motivation for discipleship. 

The book is divided into three parts.  In the first part Dodson attempts to define discipleship by considering the goal of discipleship.  He looks at a few of the pitfalls in modern definitions of discipleship and gives the reader a biblical definition of “fighting for image”.  The second part gets to the heart of discipleship.  Here he considers our motivations for discipleship (both false and what should be the central motivations).  In this section he also focuses on the Essential Role of the Holy Spirit.  Part three is the application section.  Here he introduces the reader to “fight clubs” and also shows ways to implement them. 

My Take:

The first part of the book is a very necessary foundation building.  But for someone who has read and finds themselves firmly within the gospel-centered movement there will not be a ton of new information.  I found myself in the first 5 chapters nodding my head agreeing with Dodson, underlining a few really good quips, but honestly not being profoundly changed by the book. 

To be truthful I was a tad disappointed.  Not that the book was in error or something that I could not embrace.  It just didn’t seem all that new.  Or to be honest, all that necessary as a new book.  I was hoping this book would help with implementing a gospel-centered discipleship philosophy within the church.  Knowing that these chapters were necessary I still found myself hoping that Dodson would shift gears in the latter half of the book. 

He did.  Boy, did he shift gears!  I went from thinking this book was good and solid to thinking through ways of going through it with a few people in our church and implementing some of it.  Chapter 5 was convicting and absolutely rocked my socks off.  I was very convicted that I was painfully neglecting the very One that was doing the convicting in that moment.  No wonder some of my discipleship and ministry efforts seem so empty—I’m occasionally ministering as an atheist would.  Dodson brings this neglect out in a painful yet gospel-saturated way. 

Chapter 6-8 is where the book will really help pastors and church leaders.  Dodson’s idea of fight clubs is very helpful.  It is something that the leadership within our church has been looking at doing but not quite sure how to get it done.  Dodson’s book, I believe, will help with this.  Fight clubs are pretty simple to implement but probably very difficult to live out.  I look forward to trying. 

Should You Buy It?

I would.  It’s a very solid book on discipleship.  Even if you are new believer I think the first section will help a new believer not fall into the various pitfalls of beginning steps of living the Christian life.  It is also helpful for seasoned believers that are looking to disciple other people.  I highly recommend this book.  In fact we may take a few people in our church through this book and try to start some Fight Clubs (or whatever we decide to call them) here at FB Jasper. 

You can buy it here: Gospel-Centered Discipleship for just a little over 10 bucks.

Idol Destruction 101 Part 4

Mike Leake

There was one (or maybe three) questions that motivated this series.  Does Scripture encourage us to “idol search”?  Underneath that question is the overarching question: who is responsible for idol destruction?  Is it God alone?   Is it me?  Is it a little bit of God and a little bit of me?  How are idols to be destroyed?  (Okay, maybe that is a little more than one…or three…questions). 

As I have studied idolatry and the biblical battle against it I have come to conclude with Christopher Wright that, “the conflict with the gods is a conflict waged by God for us, not a conflict waged by us for God”.  Wright continues:

To be sure, the people of God are involved in spiritual warfare, as countless texts in both testaments testify.  However, it is assuredly not the case that God is waiting anxiously for the day when we finally win the battle for him and the heavens can applaud our victory…No, the overwhelming emphasis of the Bible is that we are the ones who wait in hope for the day when God defeats all the enemies of God and his people, and then we will celebrate God’s victory along with angels, archangels and all the company of heaven.  Indeed in the company of heaven we already celebrate the victory of the cross and resurrection of Christ, the Easter victory that anticipates the final destruction of all God’s enemies.  (Wright, The Mission of God, 178)

It seems to me that before we begin talking about our role in searching out, destroying, fleeing, and fighting against idolatry we need to seriously take into account that Jesus Christ came to “destroy the works of the devil”.  God is bent on overturning darkness and casting down every god that really is no god.  God is a jealous God and this is a good thing. 

This means that fundamental to our fight against idolatry is a firm belief that the glittery idol that seeks to entice us is an already conquered sham.  Yes this idol may still shine and taunt you with its mock glamour but someday it will be fully exposed for the nothing it really is. 

Knowing that the battle is the Lord’s helps us to fight in the right way.  It keeps us from fighting idols to secure our redemption or to accomplish acceptance.  It helps us to see that the Lord of glory is already fighting (indeed has fought) for us and this is His work of idol-smashing and not fundamentally ours. 

Since it is God’s battle and his fight do we just passively wait?  Is there anything for us to do in this battle against idolatry?  These questions we will consider tomorrow. 

Idol Destruction 101 Part 3

Mike Leake 2 Comments

There is a way of “[delving] into secret, shadowy regions of the heart” that is helpful.  But there is also a way of “idol mining” that is dangerous and deadly to your soul.  It is this deadly digging that we will look at today.

The Keswick Effect

Keswick (pronounced KEH-zick) theology is a very popular view of Christian sanctification.  If J.I. Packer is correct (and he probably is), unless you belong to a Lutheran or confessionally Reformed fellowship chances are you have been heavily influenced by Keswick theology*. 

Fundamental to Keswick theology is the belief that most believers live their Christian life in defeat.  Keswick desires to turn defeat into victory.  Believers can (indeed should) live Christian lives marked by victory—consecration to the Lord and Spirit-filling.  As a result of this teaching there are two classes of believers: those that are living victoriously and those that are living in defeat. 

What separates victorious believers from defeated believers?  Those who are victorious have surrendered in faith.  They have “Let go, and let God”.  This is what happens when a believer allows Jesus to become Lord in their life.  Previously, he had been Savior but not Lord.  Because the flesh is sinful the only thing for us to do is surrender everything to God.  Our only “effort” is the effort of letting go of our feeble attempts to live the Christian life.  Simultaneous to “giving up” we then trust in the Lord to accomplish our holiness for us. 

Usually all of this takes place at a moment of crisis.  After this moment of crisis (which usually takes place at a weekend or week long renewal) when the believer surrenders and believes then he/she is now has taken a spiritual leap.  He/she now lives the Higher Life (hence the name Higher Life Movement). 

The problem, though, is that we have a tendency to “leak” the Spirit.  And so the Christian life is a constant process of surrendering and believing (letting go and letting God).  Most who adhere to Keswick theology do not believe that you can lose your salvation, but you certainly can slip back into being a carnal Christian.  And as such you surrender your fellowship with God.  If you are not surrendering and believing then you are doing things in the flesh.  As such, you are not living the victorious Christian life in fellowship with God, because as Paul said, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God”. 

When Keswick Meets Idol Mining

What happens, then, when a person who has bought into the Keswick view of sanctification begins idol mining?  Consider these wise words from M. James Sawyer:

Another great problem with Keswick teaching in its various forms is the tendency to morbid introspection. If one’s spiritual relationship to God is dependent upon confession of known sin, and absolute yieldedness, how can one be sure that he has actually confessed all sin. If a sin has been missed somewhere, the individual is still out of fellowship with God and devoid of spiritual power. Thus instead of a relationship with God producing holiness, Keswick demands holiness before communion.

J.I. Packer was rescued out of this muddy mysticism at a young age.  But, according to Packer it almost destroyed him.  Listen to his experience of Keswick theology meeting idol mining:

It didn’t work and that was a deeply frustrating and depressing thing. It made me feel like a pariah, an outsider, and at the age of eighteen that was pretty burdensome. In fact, it was driving me crazy. [p. 169] The reality of its [i.e., Keswick theology’s] passivity program and its announced expectations, plus its insistence that any failure to find complete victory is entirely your fault, makes it very destructive…So all [I] could do was repeatedly reconsecrate [myself], scraping the inside of [my] psyche till it was bruised and sore in order to track down still unyielded things by which the blessing was perhaps being blocked.

Dan Phillips shares a similar experience:

The effect of all this was that I was constantly taking my spiritual pulse, constantly checking within, freezing up, paralyzed, spiraling down into deeper and deeper morbid introspection and depression.  In the name of “looking to Jesus” (revealed in His Word) I was constantly looking to myself, within myself.  (Phillips, The World-Tilting Gospel, 251-52)

The problems with this view of sanctification are multiple and its effects are devastating—especially to believers that may be prone to morbid introspection in the first place.  Another problem is that it hi-jacks an actual helpful and biblical view of sanctification.  What happens when Keswick hijacks idol mining is that the believer is looking for idols to destroy because while they still exist he cannot be in right fellowship with the Lord, he cannot have communion, he cannot have victory.  Idol destruction then becomes a means to a more intimate fellowship with the Lord.  It’s a way to fill in the gaps of our spiritual development.

Idol mining then becomes about me and my quest to surrender more for God, to let God have more control of me, and inevitably to be a better Christian and more acceptable to God.  In essence it hijacks the gospel and the work of Christ.

But who destroys idols in the first place???  That is where we will turn next time.

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*There is more to Keswick than will be dealt with in this brief article.  If you are interested in the topic you are encouraged to check out two helpful articles.  The first is on Wesleyan/Holiness Movement and Keswick Theology from Bible.org.  The next place to look is the work of Andy Naselli.  Andy did his doctoral work on the Keswick movement and he has a good amount of free resources available here: Keswick-Theology, Let Go and Let God?