Idols

Tim Keller:

"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.' There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship."

David Foster Wallace:

"In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship…is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things— if they are where you tap real meaning in life— then you will never feel you have enough…. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you…. Worship power—you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart— you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out."

Thursday Memo

Hi Five Oakers, The weekend’s coming and there are a few things I don’t want you to miss:

The Weekend

Whenever I’m in CA one thing I do before leaving, every time, is eat a burger, fries and shake from In-N-Out Burger. If you’ve never been, you should know that’s all there is on the menu, except for soft drinks. Aside from the freshness of the ingredients, a big part of the franchise’s success is the lack of choices. Yes, a lack of choices leads to more choosing. (And, yes, I do know about the secret menu and sometimes get my fries “animal style,” but there’s a whole psychology of buying behind so-called “secret menus,” too.)

This weekend we start a brand new 7-week series called “The Choice.” It’s what I call a Story of God series because we’ll be tracing one theme through the whole story. The theme is worship.

Joshua challenges the Israelites to choose whom they will worship in Joshua 24:15. (The Hebrew term he uses for “serve” is the same term for “worship.”)

“…choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Like In-N-Out, he offers limited choices. Unlike In-N-Out, you can’t choose “all the above.” Can you truly understand why not?

If you’re on a strict diet and join me on my trip to In-N-Out, you’ll choose “none of the above.” But Joshua doesn’t offer that option because you can’t not worship. Do you know why?

The Story of God, the sweep of it, offers answers to those questions and many more we have concerning worship. I hope you can make this series because this choice determines everything.

Links You Might Like

// “Where Are the Men? A Feminist Defends Masculinity”

One More Thing

“If we haven't learned to be worshipers, it doesn't really matter how well we do anything else.” (Erwin Lutzer)

Blessings to you all, Pastor Henry