Counterfeit Gods

1. Counterfeit Gods When empty promises let us down

2. Counterfeit Gods and empty promises When love is not all you need The seduction of success Money changes everything The power and the glory Winning through weakness

3. Though few will own it, nothing is more common. If we think of our soul as a house, there is an idol set up in every room. David Clarkson. 17th Century vicar

4. We prefer… Our wisdom not God’s truth. Our desires not God’s will. Our reputation not God’s honour. Our relationships are more important than God. Even our enemies more powerful than God.

5. Is there hope? Yes! Idols can’t just be removed. We need to supplant themwith God. Not just a general belief in his existence but a living encounter with him.

6. Jacob… Definitely believed in God. But was enslaved by counterfeit gods that hadpromised much but delivered little. Genesis 32: Jacob was a wounded man. Need and desire to have approval and blessing. How would his story end?

7. Genesis 32: 22 - 30 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. Jack Baumgartner

8. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.

9. 26 Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’ But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ 27 The man asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Jacob,’ he answered.

10. 28 Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.’ 29 Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’

11. But he replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ Then he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’

12. Jacob was still wrestling. This time with God. What was he thinking...! Here is God up close and personal. A definite encounter.

13. He had everything - but was empty. There are times in our life... Jacob holds on tight. I will not let you go untilyou bless me. v26 He’d got to a place in hislife where nothing was more important. Then God blessed him there. v29

14. Why did God bless him? He didn’t deserve it. God made himself vulnerable to bless a man he loved. v25 You have struggled with God and overcome… v28 Jacob recognised the divinity of God and didn’t flee. This was his victory.

15. What was the blessing? The same as Jesus Mk 1:11 You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased. So why did God bless Jacob? We get the answer by looking at Jesus – God in bodily form.

16. God feigned weakness tosave Jacob. God become truly weak inJesus to save us. Jesus held on to God togain a blessing for us. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to us through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Galatians 3: 13 – 14

17. And the promise of the spirit? Galatians 4: 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba,Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

18. As we accept Jesus’ death… We receive the blessing of God our father… We no longer need idols. The cross is the place of humility for us. And also weakness. And then empowering.

19. To know God’s blessingis the beginning of theend of counterfeit Gods. Idolatry isn’t just another sin to deal with. It’s a deeper heart issue. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him… They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator.  Romans 1: 21;25

20. Dismantling the idols How do we identify them? Our solitude Our money Our functional saviour Our uncontrollable emotions

21. Key Questions Has something else other than Jesus taken over our heart’s functional trust, loyalty, service, preoccupation, fear? To what do we look for security, stability and acceptance?

22. Key Questions What do we really want out of life? What would make me happy? What would make me feel acceptable? Where do we look for power and success?

23. Those questions tease out whether we serve God or idols. Whether we look to Jesus for our salvation. Whether we say one thing, but find our hearts connected elsewhere.

24. So how do we put to death ouridols? Col 3: 5 How do we get our heartstruly free? Repent Rejoice Rest in what Godhas done for us.

25. Repentance… but not through fear Repent with no rejoicing: despair Rejoice with no repentance: shallow Repentance through fear: not sorry for the sin A form of self pity. We don’t hate the sin. The sin doesn’t loseits power.

26. Repentance that brings rest Understanding Jesus’ sacrificefor us – a real encounter with God. We hate the sin. We see what the sin cost God. What assures us is God’s blessing. Fear based – we hate ourselves Joy based – we hate the sin

27. Col 3: 1-3 So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you.

28. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ - that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life - even though invisible to spectators - is with Christ in God. He is your life.