Bonus Content from May 30th, 2021

Bonus Content to Conclude the “Jesus vs. Idols” Series

As our Jesus vs. Idols series has come to a close, I (Pastor Tim) wanted to address two outstanding questions that were raised along the way.

How do we hold the tension between fighting these idols in our lives and salvation by grace?

This is such an important question. I would hate for anyone to walk away from this series overwhelmed with condemnation or a need to “be/do better” in order to earn salvation! That would be completely missing the point.

That said, I’m not sure this particular issue is one of balancing two ideas (fighting idols; salvation by grace) or holding them in tension as much as it is an issue of ordering them correctly.

It’s critical that we cling with all our might to salvation by grace! It’s also critical that we fight with all our might against our idols. I’m not sure that one should endanger the other if we order them correctly. The incorrect order? “Fight idols in order to earn salvation.” A better order? “Fight idols while remembering you’re saved by grace”… but even this approach separates our effort from the gospel as though the two run in parallel. The most biblical order, I think, is something like “Let salvation by grace empower you to fight your idols.”

In other words, it’s not performance-based acceptance (let me fight idols so God will save me) or performance with acceptance (let me fight idols while God saves me) but rather acceptance-based performance (let me fight idols because God already saved me). We’re so grateful that we were saved despite our idolatry that we want to fight against that idolatry. The same gospel that saves us, then, becomes the fuel for our engines as we fight the idolatry to which we’re so prone.

This is the idea Paul captures in Philippians 2:12-13: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling [including our work of fighting idols], for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure [this is where his gospel does the work in us].”

How do we reconcile the idea of storing up treasure in heaven and giving to the poor, etc. with saving and investing to buy a house or retirement or vacations, etc.?

This is the wisdom question that could be asked about each of the idols in this series. For the vast majority of the decisions we make in our lives, there isn’t a black-and-white piece of guidance in scripture telling us what to do (which parking spot to take, which college to attend, who to marry, where to go on vacation, etc.). Such decisions require wisdom (“skill for living”).

That wisdom is developed as we meditate on scripture day after day. In doing so, we learn what God’s voice sounds like, and over time, we become increasingly sensitive to the Spirit’s wise leading on those decisions that lack black-and-white scriptural answers.

It would be easier in a sense if God gave us a shortcut (e.g. “just tell me how much is too much in my retirement fund!”), but then we would ignore God to follow His blueprint. He prefers the sort of personal relationship with us that comes through relying on Him and seeking His guidance in prayer day after day.

So as we ask Him to show us whether to invest our next $100 in a retirement fund or in “the bellies of the poor” (Augustine), we won’t always make perfect decisions, but over time we will grow in our ability to discern His leading if we’re immersed in scripture, prayer, and wise Christian counsel.