What Can Satisfy My Soul?

All right, we are going to be continuing today in our Saints

and Scoundrel series talking about Jacob.

We're going to be in Genesis 29, verses 31 through Genesis 30,

Genesis 29:31 Genesis 30:24

verse 24. If you do not have a copy of the

Bible with you, there are Bibles under your chair.

If you do not have a Bible, we would love for you to take this.

It's our gift to you. But it'll be on pages 22 and 23

of the Bible under your seat. If you're using a different

Bible, I cannot possibly tell you what page number that it's

on, but it's close to the beginning.

First book of the Bible. For those of you who might be

new to church, new to reading the Bible, the big numbers are

chapters, small numbers verses. So when we're saying we're

reading a certain part of the Bible, first numbers chapter,

second number is verse. So we're going to start in

Genesis 2931. When the Lord saw that Leah was

hated, he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren, and Leah

conceived and bore a son. And she called his name Reuben.

For she said, because the Lord has looked upon my affliction,

for now my husband will love me. She conceived again and bore a

son, and said, Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he

has given me this son also. And she called his name Simeon.

Again she conceived in Bora's son, and said, Now this time my

husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three

sons. Therefore his name was called

Levi. And she conceived again in

Bora's son, and said, This time I will praise the Lord.

Therefore she called his name Judah.

Then she ceased bearing. When Rachel saw that she bore

Jacob no children, she envied her sister.

She said to Jacob, give me children, or I shall die.

Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel.

And he said, Am I in the place of God, who is withheld from

you, the fruit of the womb? Then she said, Here is my

servant Bilhah, go into her, so that she may give birth on my

behalf, that even I may have children through her.

So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went

into her, and Bill ha conceived and bore Jacob a son.

Then Rachel said, God has judged me, and has also heard my voice,

and given me a son. Therefore she called his name

Dan. Rachel's servant Bill ha

conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

Then Rachel said, with mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with

my sister and have prevailed. So she called his name Naftali.

When Leah saw that she had cease sparing children, she took her

servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

And Leah said Good fortune as has come.

So she called his name Gad. Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob

a second son. And Leah said, Happy am I, for

women have called me happy. So she called his name Asher and

the days of wheat harvest. Reuben went and found mandrakes

in the field and brought them to his mother Leah.

Then Rachel said to Leah, please give me some of your son's

mandrakes. But she said to her, is it a

small matter that you have taken away my husband?

Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?

Rachel said then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your

son's mandrakes. When Jacob came from the field

in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, You must come

in to me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes.

So he lay with her that night, and God listened to Leah, and

she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

Leah said, God has given me my wages because I gave my servant

to my husband. So she called his name Issachar.

And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son.

Then Leah said, God has endowed me with a good endowment.

Now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six

sons. So she called his name Zebulon.

Afterwards she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.

Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened

her womb. She conceived and bore a son,

and said, God has taken away my reproach.

And she called his name Joseph, saying, May the Lord add to me

another son. This is the true word of God.

What's going on? Port City family and friends.

How we doing? Good.

My name is Tanner. It's a joy to be with you and

the lead pastor here. I really enjoyed Pastor will

sermon last week. I hope you did too.

If you didn't get to hear it, go listen on Spotify or Apple

podcast y'all. And I want to just point

something out that you've probably noticed by now.

I'm not the only one who preaches here.

I preach about 2/3 of the time and y'all I don't need a break.

I'm just trying to be honest like this is this.

I'm just trying to be honest with you about why we do what we

do. Y'all need to hear from people

that preach to you on Sunday and then on Monday are dealing with

risk management. Y'all know what I'm saying like

people that are are in the trenches just like y'all.

My calling is full time, full time vocational ministry and and

I'm proud of Cam Newton, Joe Rogan.

These dudes don't know nothing about walking with Jesus and we

need to be full of the spirit doing iron sharpening iron stuff

in this church. And you have access to men in

this church who love Jesus and want to walk with you.

So it's the summer and to the young man, I just want to call

you to like take advantage, like take a guy out to lunch, ask him

to invest in you. Ask him to tell you some advice,

things they've seen in your life and and give them the keys to

speak in and to the Alderman in the church.

Let's look for those young guys. We can we can invest in.

In my experience, our sisters in Christ are better at saying they

need help and doing life together than the men are Amen

somebody I heard a Amen and looking at Amen.

So I don't want to be a podcast discipleship church.

I want to be a like people discipleship church.

Amen. So I pray that encourages you

and and we do life together here.

OK, we'll pray with me and then we'll dive into the chaos that

is the scripture we just had read.

OK, our Father, we love you God, that really is just my my heart

is that life changes when we really rub shoulders with

people. God, you know, I love podcasts

and listen to a lot of them, but God and just the the the culture

of some toxic masculinity in our culture and then just some

absent masculinity. God, we need real men who are

living life in front of us and want to just help one another.

So I pray that over the men in this church, may we not be too

proud to ask for help. May we not be too passive and

just sit back. I just teach us a spirit

empowered humility to ask for help and and may iron sharpen

iron in this church for your glory.

I got so thank you for this time.

Thank you for your word. What we know not right now,

would you teach us. What we have not, would you give

us who we are not? Would you make us and let the

words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be

acceptable in your sight? And everybody you agree with

that said Amen. Y'all have you ever?

Not known something had a name, but you knew what it was before

you knew the name to it. You know what I'm talking about.

Like kids, you might not know what the word stalling means,

but you do it every night at bedtime.

Your water is not full. You didn't get tucked in right?

You were not kissed. Whatever it was.

That is what we call stalling. OK, we all in.

Today's text, There is something happening that you have seen

your entire life and you didn't know there was a word for it.

There's a fancy Bible word for what we're going to see.

You saw it maybe for the first time.

And y'all, I'm not judging. The situation's about to tell

you. I'm just saying something we had

a word for. Something's off here, OK?

When somebody gets a 98 and they're crying because they

didn't get 100. When a coach is berating their

players in front of the parents because they're embarrassed of

their team's performance. When a kid getting 30 points a

game gets 20 and their team loses and he's in his feelings,

like what is going on here? Something is not right or?

A grown man thinking that marrying a beautiful woman will

satisfy him, or that if I have another baby, the woman thinks

that'll make my husband happy. Baby after baby after baby.

Or if I can have a baby like my. Sister, I'll be happy y'all.

The big Bible word for that is a word called idolatry.

Somebody say idolatry. Idolatry is when we seek things

to fulfill and satisfy and make us feel safe other than the Lord

God Himself. God is not bad to want to feel

safe and to feel satisfied. In fact, you were created to

feel those things and experience that.

It is the. Source You go to y'all.

We were meant to find that in the Lord God Himself in a

covenant relationship with Him through Jesus Christ on in

today's text, but in everyday life is the insanity of

idolatry. It is insane we do these.

Things and it's not just the people in this text and it's not

just those examples we saw. Insanity comes from idolatry

because, and this is what's important in the moment, the

pool to do that which you see done by that coach or by that

person or the serial dating middle school person, right, who

just has a boyfriend 5 minutes after the last one.

They don't even realize how compulsively the need feels to

satisfy that itch. And what's insane about it is we

can logically remove ourselves and say, well, that's not going

to fulfil you. But then in our own lives, we do

the same thing, right? And we do it over and over and

over. So my prayer for us is that we

walk out of here trust in Christ, not idols.

We walk out of here killing idols, OK?

And to get there. We're going to talk about the

fruits of idols, then we're going to talk about the roots of

idols and then the end of idols. OK, if you're ready, let me hear

you say I'm ready. OK, let's start with the fruits

of idols. Y'all, it's one of those things

we know it when we. See it?

OK, so let's just walk through the text where we're seeing it

because we know it when we see it. 4 evidences of idolatry in

our text. The first one is going all

outgoing, all out. Jacob in chapter 29, verse 10

went all out for Rachel. This is what is said now.

As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban his mother's

brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob came

near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the

flock of Laban, his mother's brother.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.

Later it tells us this after his time he promises Laban to to be

with Rachel says. Then Jacob said to Laban, give

me my wife that I may go into her from my time is completed.

You know the first evidence of idolatry is when you're going

you're not even like thinking. It's like an almost like animal

like all out pursuit for something that you think will

satisfy you. That is Jacob here.

You know Jacob. Is on the run.

We know from earlier in the story that Esau was preferred.

By his dad. So Jacob did not have his dad's

favor. He had his mom's favor.

And then he was kicked out of the house.

OK. And we got to be careful when we

psychologize the Bible. But I want to be clear.

That a lot of times the reason we run to those idols.

To make a safe. Is rooted in our story OK, so

when you can't get the approval of somebody in your household,

you tend to look for it somewhere else now listen

carefully just because that makes.

Sense, and you understand it, it does not excuse your idolatry.

It makes sense of your idolatry, OK, as you grow in awareness

over where you go to make you feel safe and satisfied.

It's God's way of inviting you to reality, not to excuse the

mess you keep making. OK, so we don't go sit in the

counselor's chair to get people to feel sorry for us.

It's to help us. I'm in counseling for years, is

to understand the mechanism of our heart and what we're doing.

And God through that process is inviting you into reality.

OK, But Jacob, he's on the run. He's on exile.

He's exiled, so to speak, from his home.

And he sees a beautiful woman and he thinks being with her

will make me happy to the point that he promises 7 years of

service to Laban. That's an exorberant price to

pay, so to speak in this time period.

It says that he kissed her when he first saw her and wept.

It's like he was like like he just, he was taken aback by her

beauty. And he promises 7 years and then

he basically tells his potential father-in-law, let me have your

daughter so I can go be with her.

That's pretty bold to tell your father-in-law.

OK. And then look what happens in

the text. Famously, he gets duped in verse

22. Laban ain't no fool.

Laban gathered together all the people the place and made a

feast, but in the evening he took his daughter.

Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went into her.

Laban gave his female servant Zilpa to his daughter Leah to be

her servant. And in the morning, behold, it

was Leah. And Jacob said to Laban, What is

this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for

Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?

Jacob was going so hard and probably drank enough that night

that he played right into getting fooled.

He didn't even know who he was laying next to.

Okay. And y'all, this sentence right

here that he went to bed thinking it was Rachel and woke

up and it was Leah is what idolatry does to us in a

nutshell, is it not? You go to bed.

Think of this one thing and you wake up and realize it is not

what you thought it was. This is what we call over

promising and under delivering. He thought he would be fulfilled

and he realized he was duped. Y'all?

That is what idolatry does to us in a nutshell.

It promises just one more. Or just get that thing.

Go all out and once you have. It you'll be good.

And the wake up feeling is I've been duped y'all.

That's it. It's buyer's remorse.

Anybody remember the first time you bought something as a kid

and you felt that feeling? I remember I was at the dollar

store buying a pellet gun with $1.00.

I thought I literally would play with this thing until Jesus came

back. I will never have.

No, I will have fun every second for the rest of my life.

Within like 18 minutes, I'd shot all six of them little things

and I was like, man, what in the world?

And y'all buyer's remorse is just a tiny little sting that's

meant to show us a bigger truth, right?

Some of us feel buyer's remorse with a political candidate.

Some of us feel it with that next boyfriend or girlfriend in

high school. We feel it with the next job

promotion. We can feel it even with the

weekend. You can live Monday, y'all.

You walk around your office, people on Tuesday are already

living for Friday. I heard you say that last week,

y'all. And it's not a bad thing to live

for, you know, to want Friday to come.

But do we hear the insanity, right?

And the insane thing would it be to do it again once you realize

you're duped, right? So let's talk about the.

Second, evidence of idolatry, which is to keep going to the

same thing over and over again. We see this primarily in Leah

for Leah verse 31. When the Lord saw that Leah was

hated, he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren.

And Leah conceived and bore a son.

And she called his name Reuben. For she said, Because the Lord

has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will love me.

She conceived again and bore a son, and said, Because the Lord

has heard that I'm hated, He has given me this son also.

And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a

son and said Now this time my husband will be attached to me

because I have borne him three sons.

Therefore his name was called Levi.

Yo Leah, it's a sad, it's a sad tale right?

Leah wants the affection that Rachel gets for her beauty

through Jacob and then she gets the kids that Rachel craves.

But neither of them are content or happy and thinks if they had

what the other had they would be.

Y'all see that? And y'all, we've talked about

this all throughout the series. The Bible is not prescribing

polygamy. And some of the things we see

here. We have talked about the mess ad

nauseam, OK, and we'll continue to.

We're focusing particularly on the idolatry here.

But y'all and Leah, we see her thinking just one more, right?

One more. Kid and he'll see me y'all.

She thinks. If my husband smiles over me,

looks at me the way he looks at her, I'll be happy.

Is it a bad thing? To want to be smiled over by

your spouse? No, that's not a bad thing.

Which is important to note about idolatry.

It's not that the thing itself is evil, it's the weight we

give. It which is what's killing us

it's not that it's bad to want jacob's smile it's that thinking

that smile is the smile you really need we've.

Given that smile, too much weight and it's not going to do

what we think it's going to do. Does that make sense?

So she thinks, one more kid and we see.

We're like, oh, poor Leah every. Time, she says.

Like this time we'll be a test. Like No he won't, girl.

We see OK, and that's what's crazy is with idolatry.

Everybody else can see how crazy you look.

We can all see and can't we run like we can see that person

crazy and they but idolatry makes us all a little crazy.

This is normal life to us. The third.

Evidence of idolatry in our text comes from Rachel chapter 30,

verse one. When Rachel saw that she bore

Jacob no children, she envied her sister.

She said to Jacob, Give me children.

Or I shall die, The third evidence of idolatry.

Is envy and rage isn't interesting, She says give me

kids or I'll die. She's not going to die if you

don't have a kid. But idolatry can make you feel

like if you don't get what you've convinced yourself you

need, you will. It's so interesting because we

know her family lineage right? Like Rebecca and Sarah were

barren for years between the two of them. 45 years plus and they

walked through their barrenness alone and in a way hers is

unbearable because she has comparison.

Isn't that interesting how envy makes her Baroness feel?

It's like. You're in the lineage of

Baroness being a good thing girl, but she can't see that

because she's consumed with envy and rage.

I also find it interesting if you remember Isaac.

What did Isaac do when Rebecca was Baron?

He prayed nonstop for her and she ended up like giving birth.

What does Jacob do? He tells his wife the truth.

He says, who am I in a position? He says, woman, who am I in the

place of God who is withheld from you, the fruit of the womb.

So he tells her the truth, I'm not God.

But notice how Jacob didn't do what his dad did, which was

enter her pain. He told her the truth to avoid

entering her pain. Has any man ever done that?

Hello don't we or dads to our kids we.

Tell the truth so we don't have to enter the pain.

Anybody. Hello.

We can do both. You earn the right to tell the

truth when you enter with pain. It's not that he's wrong that

he's not God. It's that you're saying that so

you don't have to get on your knees and pray you.

See what I'm saying? So we see in the text that her

rage is evidence that she is not well, she's not sober minded.

It can make you think, I have to have this thing or I'm going to

die. It's like, girl, you ain't going

to die, but in that moment it feels so central to your well.

Being to have that thing that it's as if you will if you

don't. 4th evidence of idolatry in the text is control of

outcomes. It gets crazy now don't it?

Once we take matters into our own hands.

Verse 3 Then she said, here's my servant Bilhah go into her so

that she may give birth on my behalf that even I may have

children through her. So she gave him her servant Bill

as a wife and Jacob went into her and Bill how conceived and

and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said God has judged

me and has also heard my voice and given me a son.

Y'all gets crazy and we could read it all the mandrakes become

involved selling your husband for some mandrakes which

mandrakes are you know popular lives by Harry Potter.

There's so many layers to this, they were convinced this will

help. She thinks y'all listen, think

about this. Rachel was seeking the mandrakes

and willing to sell her husband because she thinks she can

control her giving birth because she had convinced herself this

plays into fertility and all this stuff.

And so she gets the mandrakes and don't have a kid, Leah,

because the husband has a kid. It just gets crazy and they

control their outcomes, which seems insane to us, but this is

what we do. And again, it's worth mentioning

y'all in the. Sovereignty of God, the just

amazing mind blowing economy of God.

Every kid born to the servants to Rachel d'elia constitutes the

12 tribes of Israel. How mind blowing is that?

Here, take my servant, the use of a servant to you.

Go have my kid and the idiom in Hebrew as you go have a kid on

your knees and it's almost like you're birthing.

I'm going to sit here. That's my kid that you just it's

it's insane, but God uses their insanity and idolatry in his

Kingdom masterpiece. Isn't that just amazing That

doesn't green light try idolatry, but it is to say God

is up to something bigger even in the midst of it.

But the control. Of outcomes is where things just

get wild. They get crazy.

Idolatry, y'all. It makes us crazy.

We think these people are crazy. Recently my wife was at a

baseball game for one of our kids and adjacent to it.

So the field right here is AT ball game.

OK. And one of those like videos you

see a parent's about to throw down and punch each other over a

kids t-ball game almost happened right in front of her.

OK. And the cops had to get called.

OK. I don't think any of those men

and I know it was men even though I wasn't there.

Amen. I know no moms are about to

throw down for their kids honor over AT ball game.

None of those dads woke up thinking I'm throwing down

today. Somebody look at me wrong over

Johnny not getting a hit. I'm a throw down if that umpire

calls a strike that. I, you know, nobody wakes up

thinking that whatever it is they're idolizing is going to

make them do something stupid. But in the moment, it feels like

you can't help it. It feels like you're gonna die

if your value becomes attached to your kid and you're at a game

where something's happening. The way you're calling strikes,

the way that coach didn't put my kid in the way this guy said

this, or even the craziest thing.

And I know this, 'cause I'm an idolatry who's done this, I can

begin to hate a parent of another kid who's a cool kid and

just got a hit, but I want people.

It's just insane what idolatry will make you do.

And it's not like you cosign, you're not like I agree to this

idolatrous moment. You're just in the moment,

driven by a value that has become so disproportionately

large it feels automatic. We gossip about our best

friends, don't we? Students?

Hello, we tech. I remember one time in high

school, I listen, listen, this is a true story.

I wasn't in Christ, but don't let that make you think that

something like this couldn't happen to one of you who are in

Christ now. I sent a narrative talking trash

about my friend named Taylor to another friend in our friend

group. We were all best friends.

Then I had the audacity once caught to say, oh, I was talking

about this guy with one letter name difference at a different

school and my friend went oh all good.

I remember when I sent the text and he sent it back, my body was

like in shock and like shivering.

I was sweating but I could sneak my way out of it.

But in that moment, we don't wake up thinking I'm going to

gossip about a best friend today.

But when your value is on the line, you'll do it.

If it's about me being cool, I will.

I'll put down a friend. Behind their back.

Won't we do that? Idolatry makes us a little

insane. It just does.

And this is deeper than any psychology can take you.

This is the level of like, it's almost like a God is telling you

to obey. The idea is you do what your God

tells you to do. And if your God is your value

system around how you're viewed in the moment, it feels like you

cannot say no. That's how it works now that

we've seen the examples. Of idolatry, Let's talk about

the roots of idolatry. The roots of idolatry.

Let's get the mechanics a little bit first.

Idolatry feels natural because we are.

Fallen. OK, God made us in his image.

Idolatry was not His intent. OK, He made us to worship him.

Think. About it like this, OK.

You were. Created and at the center of who

you are. Let's use the analogy of an

engine. OK?

If your soul is an engine that was made to operate a certain

way, you're made to operate on gasoline, all right?

Loving God focused on others, serving others, naked and

unashamed purpose, all the stuff.

And when sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, their

deception? You didn't go from being an

engine to like being a house. You're still an engine, but now

you think you run on Maple. Syrup.

OK, so here's what's crazy about the image of God in you.

Some things are still going to go well, it's crazy.

God is so kind, common grace is so good that the wheels won't

always fall off. You're going to be full of

purpose. You'll even be praised for your

life running on Maple syrup at times, which makes it really

confusing because you're still capable of great beauty and

great purpose, and you can love people and do kind things

because that's a testament to God's image in you.

And running on Maple syrup all the while driven by what people

think of you. You're getting praise like you

love people when in reality you're using them to make people

think that you're a good person or whatever it is.

And the idea is it's Maple syrup.

Like this is insane, right? This is crazy.

This is not how I was meant to run.

I was meant to run on gasoline. But you so normalize life in

Maple syrup, you begin to think I was created to run on Maple

syrup. Does that make sense?

Second. Thing idolatry is an exchange.

It's a foolish exchange. Somebody say exchange.

So this gasoline Maple syrup thing is the exchange of true

worship for false worship. You need to hear this.

The conversations we have in this leopard carpet print room

are human conversations, not religious conversations.

Because if you take what I'm saying today.

And you try to categorically reject it and say that's that

Christian religious talk you're going to leave here and think

you're a human being that exists outside of these categories, but

it's not. True.

Your soul's an engine. You're either on Maple syrup or

gasoline. Whether you think I'm crazy or

not. Are you with me?

What I'm saying is true because God made you in his image.

So if you want to go run on Maple syrup, you go for it.

But don't try to categorically reject the conversation just

because you want to call it spiritual.

This is human stuff. Does that make sense?

And so the exchange that has occurred is we've exchanged

worship of God for worship of other things.

OK. This is how Romans one talks

about it. I'm about to quote from a song.

Kids, if you can quote this song to me next week in The Way the

Artist. Quotes it.

I'll go Pastor Will on them and give you a candy bar.

OK, you're not going. To be able to do it, it's going

to take a lot of practice. This song is called Messiah by

Beautiful Eulogy. Beautiful Eulogy.

Go look it up. Hey, the album is called Worthy.

The song is called Messiah, and I'm going to say it slow.

Then I'm going to say it how he says it.

He says when a good God gives good gifts, we generally tend to

twist the list. And take the good list that God

tends to give and make a general God out of gifts.

But he does it really fast. He goes when a good God gives

good gifts, we generally tend to twist the list.

And take the good list that God tends to give and make a general

God out of gifts. Listen.

The idea is in exchange has occurred that you did not know

you made but then in your sin Co signed and volitionally

submitted to over and over and over, which is God went from the

giver of gifts. He is gift who gives gifts to.

He is subservient to the gifts. When a good.

God gives good gifts. We generally tend to twist the

list and take the good list, good gifts that God tends to

give and make a general God out of gifts.

So now we ask God. We either say he doesn't exist

or we let him continue in our orbit.

But he only serves the purpose of helping us chase after the

gift that. We want more than him.

So you can play a role. You can make me feel good about

my conscience and my morality if I'm having a bad day.

God becomes primarily your consoler.

This is what I see all kinds of times in young people who really

just want a comfortable life, a person to love them, all these

things. And God becomes primarily your

consoler. But you could still grow up your

entire life in a religious environment.

No Bible verses and he's still. Serving the gifts, He is your

servant as you chase what you want more than him, but He is

there to make your conscience. Feel good as you do it.

And that's what religion is. It is a system where you have

convinced yourself you're in. But really, God is a part of

your system. He is serving the gift with you.

He's there to console you. It's a great exchange.

So y'all some of what the preaching the gospel.

Does is it's just to awaken your heart to this dynamic that is

Maple syrup? Does that make sense?

Even the greatest gift, spouse, kids, whatever it is, if it

takes on God like governing authority in your mood and

behavior, it's Maple syrup. Does that make sense?

That's all it is and you're invited.

Watch this. What if getting saved?

What if aligning yourself with reality and putting God back in

first place is actually as simple as just living in

alignment with reality as it really is?

What it? Putting gas in the car is just

how life works and the ease of life.

There is a burden lifted when you stop asking things that are

not God to govern you. Life just gives way easier when

you live in alignment with God in first place and who he is and

let a good gift be a good gift but it's not a good God.

Does that make sense? And life gets a lot easier once

you're saved just because things take on their proper

proportional size and part of what makes your life.

Miserable is that you're being governed by things that are bad

governors. That make sense?

They're good gifts, bad gods, good gifts, bad governors.

Which leads us to the third root of idolatry.

Idolatry. Can become the means by which

God invites you to reality. Isn't that amazing?

Once you realize this Maple syrup, you almost feel like

you've been tricked. You mean to tell me that's why

my my life is miserable? And y'all I don't want to over

sanitize once God goes in first place.

It doesn't make every second a party of reality.

Please just listen to all of our.

Other sermons and read the Psalms.

Amen, somebody. I'm just telling you that in

general. Yes, the false size of the false

gods is what's making you miserable, and you have an

opportunity to get out of that rat race.

That's what's amazing. And that false chase, you're

like, oh, so the category of worship.

Isn't the problem. My object of worship has been

the problem? Yes, that's what I'm telling

you. Here's how CS Lewis famously put

it. I I'm reading this from

Counterfeit Guys by Keller. You need to read it.

Somebody like I read that back in college.

Read it again. Don't we do that, y'all?

We think we learn things, then we don't go back to them.

Read it again. Let me.

See if I can find it. If I find in myself a desire

which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most

probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

What CS Lewis was saying so well, and the reason we keep

reading him is he's helping us understand the categorical

issue, which is that. Worship is not the problem.

Your desires are not the problem.

It's not bad that you want that smile.

It's not bad that you're craving that thing.

It's where you're going to get it that is the problem.

Does that make sense? And getting tired of the rat

race can be part of the means by which God invites you into

reality. Let's talk about the end of

idolatry. The end of idolatry.

We understand the fruits. We see it in action at T-ball

games and in our life. We understand the mechanics of

the roots. Let's talk about the end of it

first. We are invited to see Jesus

Christ as the source of life itself.

Amen, somebody. We're invited to see Jesus

Christ as the source of life itself, y'all?

When we look. At the cross.

We are not seeing merely an example of love.

What? We are seeing is God begging us

to see that He alone is the one worthy of our worship.

That's part of what it is. There's a great.

Exchange going on. Where y'all the Bible message is

not If you stop idolizing things, God will love you.

OK. The message of the Bible is that

there is a God so good, so loving, so kind, who made you

the engine that you are, gave you all the good gifts you've

ever had, and has watched you suffer in the misery your own

sin created. And instead of demanding that

you figure it out, stop loading your tank with Maple syrup and

trust him. Then he'll love you.

He's the God who comes and lives a perfect, sinless life.

Though you're an. Idolater and dies as if he was

the idolater in your place. That's the gospel.

The gospel is not. If you get it together and stop

idolizing, God will love you. Is that when you were blowing

it? When you went to partner after

partner after partner? When you trusted candidate after

candidate after candidate. When you think the next

promotion, the next promotion, next promotion will satisfy you

instead of God, When you keep yawning at God and thinking that

can govern your life in that moment, Christ.

Died for you? That's what the Bible teaches.

That's the gospel that will actually break the hold idols

have. I love preaching at summer camps

with students because they get some things within seconds and

they're honest about things. Adults just, well, I didn't like

that stuff about Jacob and those women and let me go Google some

stuff. I didn't.

It's like adults just have this ability to go like, and I'm

like, look, we could talk about all that man, but can I take you

to summer camp where like a handful of like 16 year old

girls are just honest within seconds?

Here's what happens, OK? They come in.

I'm generalizing and I'm encouraging the young women.

OK, Thank you, John, he said we get it.

Listen. I go to camp, I preach Christ

can satisfy you in ways other things can't and I just see in

their eyes are like, I hope what you're saying is true.

And by the end of the week, they believe it's true.

And by the end of the week, they dump their boyfriends.

Not all of them, but every once in a while this happens.

OK, one of them will want to talk to me and my wife.

Hey, can I talk to you? Then eventually they're and

they've got some objections and some struggles and by the end of

the week they're ignoring us. And I remember one time one of

them had a conversation with my wife.

I just feel like if I say yes to Jesus, I have to dump him.

And listen, I did not give a talk on how you need to dump

your boyfriend. That's kind of the point.

The point is immediately. Our souls can recognize only one

gets to be in first place. And actually, you're asking me

to put Johnny down on 2nd, 3rd, whatever.

And I've so attached the essence of what it means to be me to it

being 1st that I don't know who I am without Johnny.

See how that works? So I'm scared to lose my idol

because to lose my idol is to lose me.

We've become so attached to these things, what people think

of us or whatever it is for you, that our sense of selfhood has

wrapped itself up with something else.

And guess what? Like Rachel said, give me

children or I die. We think, give me Johnny or I

die. Give me the next candidate or I

die. Get the liberals out of here, I

die. Get the conservatives out of

here, I die. And we begin to be driven in our

behavior by that thing. Does that make sense?

And what I'm trying to tell you is that's not that this, this is

a crazy thing. They're right in a way.

It will feel like death. I'm not here to tell you it

won't feel like you're dying to get rid of Johnny or your sense

of selfhood being attached to that thing.

The point is, there is somebody who took a death that when you

see that, it allows you to get over the fear and the pain that

it is to lose your false self, to find your true self.

But I can't tell you it won't feel like dying because it will,

because you've so attached yourself to it that it's going

to be death to lose it. Does that make sense?

So in a way, losing an idol will feel like killing something

precious. But here's the amazing thing.

Is you actually once you trust Christ and receive Christ, you

get the gift back as it was intended to be, not giving you

your value but just playing a role in your life.

Does that make sense? It actually becomes what it was

designed to be, which is a gift, not a God, not a governor.

It doesn't run the shots, it just plays a part.

And that's the beauty of it. But you're going to, I can't

tell you that's not going to be full of fear.

Second thing, we're invited to choose Christ and kill idols.

Over and over and over. Lest you think I'm saying this

is a one time process. Amen Somebody y'all, KB once

said. My idols are mimicking Jesus.

I bury them in three days, they're back again.

His idea was that, as John Calvin famously put once, that

our hearts are idle making factories.

As long as sin still indwells you, you're going to be duped

back into this over and over and over.

So we're not here to shame anybody.

I'm not asking which ones of y'all's got idols.

I know all y'all got them. That's what I know.

I don't know if you know that yet, but I do.

And I know I've got them. OK.

Now for the believers in the room, what I hope the experience

of killing your idols is is less whack A mole and more like a

more like a weekly, daily, you know, more like gardening where

you're just like, hey, I got to pay.

Attention to this thing we were we were looking at the proverbs

earlier and Drew pointed out the one about a little in Proverbs

24 where if you he walked by the field of a sluggard and a little

folding of the hands a little laying to rest and poverty will

overtake you like a like a bandit, right?

There's something similar with idols.

Just like if you are. Not diligent in the idol killing

game they going they going to swarm you.

Does that make sense? If I walk by the field of a man

who doesn't think they have idols and in about 5 years they

going to be governed by them, does that make sense?

So be in the habit of assuming you have them, not shaming

yourself that you do, inviting Christ and community somebody

into the process. Of killing them, because

sometimes there's probably somebody in your life who can

see some insanity in you that you can't see.

Hey, I love you. I just got a question.

You spent like $2000 in the last month and this thing over here,

I think that might be disproportionately affecting

your life. I love you.

Or you could be so bold as to ask somebody, is there anything

that seems to have a disproportionate effect in my

life? That's scary, but I bet your

friends are going to be like you.

Sure. You want me to answer that?

You sure? Because this is what we like to

do. We like to think we know.

I know what idols I have. I know and I know how big they

are and like what we like, what we don't like is the thought of

somebody else. But guys, you need help to be

sober. So sobriety is a community

project as the a, a community models so well for us.

But we in the church just think we're so strong.

We think we can kill idols on our own.

And I've got my idols listing. So let me not propel you towards

pride, towards your own idols. The point I'm trying to make is

to do all of this outside of the context of a local church in

confession and community is insanity and you might be

idolizing your own self and your own brand as being a idol

killer. I don't know.

But the point is you need help. To be sober, it takes a team to

do this and do it with grace when you get handed the mic.

Hey, let me just ask you a question with this one part.

I know your job's big right now, so let's not assume just because

you're giving that a lot of energy, you're an idolater, OK?

Sometimes you have this thing called a deadline, OK?

So let's be careful. Some of you are like, can't wait

for Bob to ask me this because I'm going to tell him they got

an idol. You need to be quiet.

And you do not have authority to tell them that.

OK, third thing, we are invited to trust God with good gifts and

just wait and trust He knows best.

We cannot read this text. A couple of these.

Verses are amazing and hard at the same time.

You probably noticed them. Chapter 29 verse 31 says this.

When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb, but

Rachel was barren. Then later in chapter 30, verse

22, it says this. Then God remembered Rachel and

God listened to her and opened her womb.

You know, Genesis is giving us a God who opens the womb and

closes it. That's hard.

We just got to acknowledge that's hard.

What it does is it helps us realize God is involved in

everything all the time. Contra secularism, which wants

us to think God is here now, but he won't be when you walk out

the door or when you work on Tuesday and you're a plumber or

whatever it is. God is always involved.

But what scares us about that is why doesn't he open every womb,

right? Why doesn't everything go a

certain way? So Genesis is going to give you

a God who hears, who sees. Who cares?

And you can't contain. And that's hard because it says

he saw Leah, he heard Leah, he saw Rachel, he heard Leah, he

saw Rachel, he saw Hagar. Back in in in the early 20s

chapters of Genesis, I just want you to hear I don't know what

good gift it is that you know, competes into God like governing

authority. And I just want to tell you, I'm

sure that's really hard. I know it is and I don't know if

you'll ever get it. I don't know that we don't know

that we know we can trust this God.

We can. The God of Genesis can be

trusted. The God of the Cross.

Can be trusted. He has given you everything you

need for life and godliness. He has given you the abundant

life in Christ. Set your mind on things above it

doesn't mean stop wanting it, but some of it again is our

selfhood gets tied up in while I get that gift and I'm here to

tell you your selfhood. Is not tied to any gift.

Your identity is in. Christ.

And that's where I want to close and we'll be done.

Another way of thinking about this idolatry thing is where is

your identity? Your identity, y'all, is not in

how much money you make. It's not in how much you're

crushing your goals. It's not in how well you attack

the Atomic Habits. It's not how well you control

your destiny. It's not how much people like

you. Your identity is in Christ.

I'm going to be very clear. Jesus Christ is not your

consolation prize when the gifts don't work out, y'all?

Part of the problem is it's hard.

And I get it. I'm a white man, I'm in my 30s,

and I've got a lot of the good gifts people want.

But I'm here to tell you that Christ is gift, not gift giver

only. And what we've got to be careful

of is recruiting God and being enlisted into a mission where He

helps us pursue the gifts. He is the gift.

That's the gospel. We get saved because we want

Christ more than anything. Whom have I in heaven but you?

And then we get into walking with God and through

disappointment and pain, we so, and part of what our culture

wants you to be labeled by is your pain.

Your pain's not your identity. Christ is.

Does that make sense? And I think we so attach

ourselves to anything but Christ.

And that's sort of the issue is that he becomes on trial for

what he is not doing. And hear me say, I understand

that, but that itself is part of the dynamic that has to change.

Does that make sense? Your identity is in him.

It's not even something he gives you from him.

Your identity isn't what he hands you.

It's him. He is your identity.

Does that make? Sense and it's as we are found

in Him, it's as we are satisfied, as we are filled in

Christ that life just becomes free.

And until then, if life still has something it can give you

that you haven't gotten yet, you're chasing it.

That makes sense. And then you can play the game

and do the things differently. Not and listen yo, if I would

wake up at 4:00 AM. To go do the workouts and the

things that high school boys do when they watch a Kobe video and

then go do stuff or whatever it is for whatever version of life

stage you're in where you do that.

You listen to podcasts of somebody, David Goggins, Lord

help us, and then you go try to copy him.

When you do that, OK, and then you get saved in Christ, you're

delivered from that. How much more should we chase

good gifts and things to help build the Kingdom?

I'm not talking about dampering ambition.

I'm not talking about doing away with doing good.

I'm talking about what does it look like to do those things

when I don't actually need it for my value.

You see how that works? How much better should I be when

I'm not a 17 year old boy who needs applause?

But if I went this hard when I was needing you to like me, that

doesn't put me on the couch. Now that I'm in Christ, I don't

need to do nothing. No, dude, there's this thing

called a neighbor that you're called to love.

Now the motivation for why you do what you do is different.

I don't need the bag. I don't need the praise.

I don't need the girl. I don't need the stuff.

I got Christ. Now what is he calling me to do?

Does that make sense? So I want to be very clear, this

conversation is not how Jesus is your consolation prize when your

idols fail you. The goal is that Christ

satisfies that which you think you need apart from him, you

find in him. And once found in him, as as

Paul says, you've been, you found him and then he says or

have been found by him. Now you strain harder than ever,

but not for your glory, his. So don't hear me saying now life

is just chilling. We just, we just chilling.

No, we're not. But the motivation, the goal,

the reason, all of it now is for the glory of God, good of

neighbor, not for my sense of selfhood, which is all good now.

Does that make sense? That's why we kill idols.

We don't kill them when? All else fails, go to Jesus.

No, that's idolatry. I think actually what I'm saying

is. Christ is 1st, and when he is,

these things will. Take their proper place and you

get the joy of killing idols because if you don't, they'll be

killing you. OK, let's pray our Father.

God, I thank you for just that image of somebody hearing this

is so simple and realizing God, they've been on Maple.

Syrup their whole life. Maybe they've been in church

their whole life, but they've never chosen Christ.

First, never repented, never agreed with you that you are the

most satisfying being in the whole universe.

God, I pray somebody would get saved right now.

Looking at the cross, understanding that you are the

satisfying, safety giving, pleasing God, that nothing else

can be or ever will be. We declare you are more valuable

than anything. God, if we have you and nothing

else, we have everything, and if we have everything else but you,

we have nothing. God, may that be true in our

souls. Would you save somebody by the

power of the Spirit right now? Thank God for the believers in

the room. God in all the ways that we are

tempted to just attach our value to the littlest things, God we

find them and God we identify ourselves with our trauma, our

story, everything but God may our identity be in Christ

doesn't erase our story. It doesn't erase these things

God, but it it just changes the conversation.

God wrap us up. Help us to be found in Christ,

rooted in Christ. Please God, please help us to

kill idols once again and may we do this in community well at

Port City. Got to pray more people would

understand what the local church.

Is God just shine light on confession?

Got to pray that even today, maybe before we leave, there

will just be some liberation in this room.

So God help us, we love you. We pray these things in Christ

name, Amen.