In the first session of the Greenhouse Church Planter’s CoOp, we talked about the importance of a church planter’s submission to Jesus in all aspects of his life and ministry. I taught from Luke 14:25-33, in which Jesus makes clear that a disciple is one who loves Jesus more than any of life’s other loves—even more than wife and family and friends. Our love for him is to transcend and even position all of life’s other loves. If we love any person or thing more than we love Jesus, that person or thing has become an idol. And we are to bring our idols to the foot of the cross and allow our Lord to break the hold they have over us, so that we can once again love him supremely and love other things in a properly ordered manner.
We discussed approximately fifteen idols that obstruct a church planter from being God’s man in a given city. An idol is anything we love, trust, or obey more than we love, trust and obey Jesus. An idol is anything that becomes a functional savior and lord in our lives. I will list a few of those idols here for further reflection.
Sex: Sometimes we are tempted to love sexual pleasure more than we love Jesus. An inordinate love for sexual pleasure is what causes men to have sex before marriage, cheat on their wife, or go home after a long day of ministry and make love to an image on a computer screen or television. Sexual pleasure is a false savior; it never gives the happiness that it promises. It is a terrible lord; nothing will more quickly flatline the spiritual pulse and degrade the thoughts of a gospel man. This idol has destroyed many a man.
Money: Sometimes we love money more than we love Jesus. This inordinate love for money usually makes a person into a spender or a hoarder. A spender, on the one hand, finds functional salvation in buying “stuff” that will make him or her happy: clothes, shoes, cars, houses, TVs, gadgets, books, etc. This person functionally and practically finds joy in possessions rather than in Jesus. A hoarder, on the other hand, finds functional salvation in being a miser. This person finds his security in money and holdings rather than in God himself. Jesus talked about this idol more than any other. Money is a false savior and a tyrannical lord.
Comfort: Sometimes we love comfort more than we love Jesus. We refuse to write a blank check to the Lord, giving him complete control of our life’s account. We rule out inner city church planting or international missions because, deep down, we love comfortable homes and lives more than we love the Giver of those same gifts. We love suburban neighborhoods, SUVs, surround-sound and flat screens, decorative pillows, gentle foaming soap, and raspberry-kiwi thigh cream more than we love the King of the universe (For the record, I have never personally struggled with pillow, soap, or thigh-cream idolatry).
Success: Those of us who are “Type A” struggle mightily with this one. We are so driven and so beholden to success that we ignore family and friends, and even Jesus Christ himself. This is a sad and pathetic way to live. Do not worship this pseudo-Savior because it will destroy you rather than saving you.
Approval: Many of us are tempted to love and crave the approval of other people more than we crave the approval of God himself. The person who worships the idol of approval falls sick with a disease called “fear of man.” In young girls, this desire for approval might lead them to starve themselves (thinking that if they could just be as skinny as the 95 pound heroin addict who models the Tommy Hilfiger jeans, then some guy would love and adore her) or give their bodies away to men who don’t truly love them. In young men who are aspiring pastors and church planters, this desire for approval can lead them to become theological chameleons, saying and “believing” whatever sounds best to the particular group of people they happen to be engaging with at that particular moment. Or it can lead to a young man downloading his hero’s theological convictions and personality traits.
People: Many of us are tempted to worship people more than we love Jesus. Sometimes, we might worship a specific person. Often, we worship older pastors and church planters who we admire. These older pastors and church planters tend to be stationed out of Minneapolis, Seattle, and New York. We import these men’s theological convictions (without due time in prayer and the Word), clothing preferences, preaching styles, jokes, and even their intonations. Other times, we might worship a peer group or a sub-culture. Either way, this inordinate admiration for a person is a clear statement: Ultimately and practically, we admire this person more than we admire Christ.
Ministry Events: This idol can be closely related to the previous one. Sometimes, we desperately rely upon the latest Christian conference, sermon podcast, or book to get our much-needed “spiritual fix.” When we do this, what we are really saying is, “I am not satisfied with Christ, his Spirit, and his Word. I must have conferences and podcasts.” Ministry events will never sanctify us. Only God can do that.
Church Planting: Sometimes, church planting itself is an idol. You might find yourself jockeying for attention, always keeping an eye on the three Bs (baptisms, budgets, buildings), and eventually find that you have taken your eyes off of the Builder of the church, Christ himself. Even church planting can be a pseudo-Savior and a domineering Lord.
Reputation: We often love our reputation more than we love He who is without blemish. We have the “I’m such a good guy” syndrome. We refuse to admit when we are wrong. We refuse to confess our sins. In fact, you might be reading this blog post and realize that you refuse to confess the idols we’ve previously mentioned because you can’t bear to admit to your sin. You love your reputation more than you love Jesus.
In conclusion, there are many, many things that we can love more than we love Jesus. When we love those things we are saying, in effect, that we love God’s gifts more than we love God himself. We are trusting and loving false saviors; we are obeying puny and inferior lords.
If we do not confess our idols, we will never repent of them; if we do not consistently repent of our idolatries, we will never minister in the fullness of the power of God’s Spirit. And if we never minister in the fullness of the Spirit, one day we will look back at our lives and ministries and realize that we have wasted them.
True, true, and true. Oh how our hearts are indeed idol factories. The pitiful thing about the above is that many of those things will get you a great deal of acceptance from the evangelical community as one who “succeeding.”
I am convinced now more than ever that devotion to God and the fight for character and holiness (these two obviously go together) are the most critical facets of church planting…if these two things are not being cultivated then I cant help but wonder what is being produced by the plant.
Thanks Dr. Ashford, I look forward to the other posts.
Comment by Nathan — March 30, 2010 @ 9:26 am
Sometimes when I read something like this, I think, “This was written just for me.” And as I was reading this article that happened for me the moment I read the words “raspberry-kiwi thigh cream.” Thank you.
Comment by Jason Lewis — March 30, 2010 @ 10:03 am
Thanks for putting together these summaries, Bruce. As I reflected on this session after the weekend ended, I was struck by how easily my human mind justifies the idols in my life. It is so easy (for me at least) to be deceived into believing that they are actually good! For example, I read a lot of Dave Ramsey right after finishing up school last year. And the man has some solid advice. However, I quickly found myself wrestling with creating a giant retirement fund as a primary goal. It had become an idol, but I continued justifying it for quite a while, always saying it was for the sake of my family and their security. God is a God of risks, however, and over the past year I have prayed for my focus to be not on securing my financial security, but on seeking the eternal security of people.
Money isn’t the only area that this self-justification of idols has reared its head. Bruce, I thought that your mention of the idol of “always being right” was one that I hadn’t often thought of, but immediately struck a chord with me. This is another one that I struggle with and often attempt to justify. This session was definitely a gut check on where my true affections lie.
Comment by Matt Rigney — March 30, 2010 @ 10:29 am
the moment i forget my heart’s love for false idols is always the precise time I must again get back to smashing. Most recently, my idol has been plans the Lord birthed which became idols in and of themselves in which I took more satisfaction in what I thought his plan would produce and the manner in which it would be carried out.
Comment by Ryan CLopton — March 30, 2010 @ 8:44 pm
Nathan, Matt, and Ryan, thank you for taking the time to read, comment, and offer transparent and helpful words on idols of the heart.
Nathan, you are right: The church planter’s character and love for God is by far the primary factor, more important than any “skill sets.”
Matt, good word. It is easy to go from “planning for our family’s future and for our retirement” to “finding our security in our investments rather than in Christ.”
Ryan, I have had similar experiences in times past: Often our (well-intended) dreams for pleasing God turn out to be different than what God actually has in store for us, and we struggle with loving our dreams for ourselves more than we love God’s dreams for us. At least, that is the way it has panned out with me in the past.
Comment by Bruce Ashford — March 30, 2010 @ 10:47 pm
Jason, thanks for checking in. I’m surprised you are able to understand anything that’s written BtT, seeing that we don’t have picture-blogs, Curious George cartoons, etc. Did you have one of your sons read the blog to you?
Comment by Bruce Ashford — March 30, 2010 @ 10:50 pm
So many times I have heard sermons about worshiping false idols and I start to wonder do I really have any in my life? What is an idol? I begin to get comfortable with the false knowledge that I don’t really have any….then I read this post.
These are exactly the types of things that can drive Christians away from Christ. Many of them seemingly positive things that would be admired in the Christian community yet refocusing our attention off of Christ and onto ourselves.
Thank you for the reminder.
Comment by Jill — April 1, 2010 @ 8:19 am
I know I’m late jumping in on this, but thought this was such a good post that I’d chime in anyway. I’ve never planted a church and my experience is far less than many who will read and write on this blog. But I guess it doesn’t take many years of experience to see that what’s been posted is true. I was a youth pastor in Southern California for six years before moving to NC, more specifically to SEBTS. There are two things that I’d add to the posts above. 1) It seems as though we often start off fighting hard against the idols and the many temptations that we’ve seen others sucomb to. But as time goes on either we get busy (probably with a mixture of good and a mixture of chasing any number of these idols) and we even get lazy in guarding our hearts. It can be like the old analogy of the frog in the pot of water that is slowly heated up. At some point we realize we’re in boiling water. Which brings me to my second point.
2) When we moved here I didn’t realize how much of my identity I had allowed to be wrapped up in my position. While on staff I got used to people telling me of their appreciation for what I did, or how I impacted their child/family. Or I grew accustom to my opinion carrying a certain weight because of the title that was next to my name. There was a certain sense of purpose that I had because of my job. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Now, this may not be idolatry, but it is something that I would warn those entering ministry about. Going after our identity is a tactic that Satan has been using for a long time. He even did it to Jesus while in the wilderness (”IF you are the Son of God…” – just following Jesus’ baptism and God declaring that He is pleased with Jesus, His Son). It’s been noted by others that the first 3 chapters of Ephesians are devoted to telling believers who they are in Christ before telling us what we are to do. Could it be that this is why God gave the Sabbath day in the first place? He gave it to a people whose value came in how many bricks they could produce, and God wanted them to have a day when they would produce no bricks yet have value to Him.
I guess what I’m doing is suggesting that Identity issues be added to the “watch out for” list for those in ministry. Our value is always in who we are in Christ, and what we do flows from that. Let us not get caught up in seeking the approval of man or in needing it to feel valuable to our King.
Comment by Cardona — April 5, 2010 @ 2:36 pm
Praise YAH!!
Comment by Jen C. — August 29, 2010 @ 4:55 pm