Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Heart of All Sin: Idolatry

I've had to deal with some difficult pastoral situations over the last couple of weeks. Mark this down: Every relational and personal problem we have can be traced back to living anti-Gospel in some particular area of life. When we look to some aspect of the created order (whether that be a person, an object, or a habit) to do for us what only Jesus can do, we have a false Savior that cannot deliver on on its gospel promises.

Rather, left unchecked, this false messiah will lead us to destruction. At the end of the day, all sin can be traced back to idolatry, which is trusting in and loving something more than we trust and love the Living God. That's why the first commandment is "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). You can't commit any sin without breaking the 1st commandment. Hear the words of D.A. Carson on this issue:

The heart of all…evil is idolatry…. It is the de-godding of God. It is the creature swinging his puny fist in the face of his Maker and saying, in effect, “If you do not see things my way, I’ll make my own gods! I’ll be my own god!” Small wonder that the sin most frequently said to arouse God’s wrath is not murder, say, or pillage, or any other “horizontal” barbarism, but idolatry—that which dethrones God. That is also why, in every sin, it is God who is the most offended party, as David himself well understood: “Against you, only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so that you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge” (Psalm 51:4). (Christ and Culture Revisited, 46).

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