Pastor Max Wilkins
February 2, 2003 - W0305

God spoke to Moses through a burning bush. He also spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus. Which makes me wonder what God would say if he were to speak to us today in our day and age.

Apparently, along the highways across America, some anonymous donor has spent millions to put up billboard signs with simple messages from God. The first one I saw was driving north on I-75 in Florida. It simply said, ìWe need to talk. God.î I thought it was great because it prompted me to pray.

Here are a few other billboard signs of what God may say:

ìKeep Using My Name In Vain, Iíll Make Your Rush Hour Longerî

ìThat ëLove Thy Neighbor Thingí? I Meant It.î

ìWill The Road Your On Get You To My Place?î

ìYou Think Itís Hot Here?î

ìHave You Read My Number One Best-Seller? There Will Be A Test.î

ìWhat part of ëThou Shall Not,í Didnít You Understand?î

My personal favorite (which hangs on my office wall) says: ìDonít Make Me Come Down There!î

Q1: Which ìGod Billboardî is your favorite? Why?

Everyone knows the 10 Commandments and most of us think, ìOkay, I have no problem with it.î Nonetheless, as we begin with this new series of ìNo Other Godsî and restore our hearts to purity, letís focus on the very first commandment: ìYou shall have no other gods before Meî (Deu. 5:7).

We may ask ourselves, ìOkay, but when was the last time I bowed down and worshiped before a rock? Or rubbed a belly for good luck?î O f course, our answer is, ìI donít worship idols!î Well, letís contemplate on this a bit and be honest for the sake of purity, because we may just realize we should not be so quick to make that assertion.

In reality, an idol doesnít necessarily mean a simple rock or a piece of wood, but anything we give control of our lives. Anything apart from God that controls your life is an idol. With this definition, even our emotionsósuch as anger, bitterness and revengeó can be idols. How so? When weíre unwilling submit our lives, or these emotions, to God.

Q2: Name other emotional, mental or cultural things that can control our lives and become idols? Briefly explain.

Some of you may remember singer Bob Dylan, who experimented with Christianity at one point of his colorful career. He wrote a song that said, ìYouíre going to have to serve somebodyÖ It might be the devil or it might be the Lord, but youíre going to have to serve somebody!î

This is all too true. Something will be lord in your life and dominate your thinking. Yet thereís only room for one on the throne of our hearts and we will must decide who will reign: God or something else? God will not share the throne of our hearts with anyone.

The truth is Jesus Christ is Lord! ìAt the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Fatherî (Philip. 2:10-11).

Karios is a Greek word which means ìeternal Lord of all the heavens.î It also means ìmaster of our day-to-day living.î Jesus wants to be Karios, Lord of our day-to-day decisions. In the cosmic sense, Jesus is Lord. However, the true question is: Is Jesus Lord in my heart? Because He can be Lord of the universe and still not reign in my heart.

Ask yourself this question: ìWho or what determines my heart, my disposition and how my day will go?î Your answer may indicate who your god is. Because of our human nature we can fool ourselves into thinking that we have one Lord when in reality we have others on the throne of our hearts. And the second we allow this to happen, there will be a multitude of other lesser gods waiting to enter the void.

How Do We Know Who Our Lord Is?

The first question we need to tackle and ask ourselves at a deep level is this: ìWho is my Lord?î

How do we know who our Lord is? Hereís the truth according to Godís Word: ìJesus said to him, ëI am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Meíî (Jn. 14:6). Jesus is Lord of our hearts. But with a heart check for purity, here is the first of three questions we need to answerî

1. WHO SETS YOUR PATH?

ìI am the way...î (Jn. 14:6). When Jesus said this He was talking about a pathway, a route or a bridge. He is the pathway or bridge across the bottomless divide between you and God. He is the bridge to get you from where you are to what God plans for you. And if Jesus is Lord then He should be the One who sets our path.

Yet if we are honest with ourselves we would agree that there are times when we prefer our own path. Most of our lives sound a lot like Frank Sinatraís classic song, ìI did it my way!î The Israelites were professionals at making their own paths. They thought they knew better than God, regardless of the fact that He was leading them with a pillar of fire.

For example, they thought that if the Promised Land was in Canaan, then why were they heading in the wrong direction, wandering in the wilderness? They thought that surely all they had to do was make a quick stop at Mount Sinai, which was a three-day hike up the Philistine Highway, and proceed straight to the Promised Land. While God was offering to lead them, they chose a different path, eventually leading them straight to disaster.

How much of our lives is like this? How often do we choose our own path despite the advice, wisdom and counsel of God and of those God sends to help us? ìThere is a way that seems right to a man, but only ends in deathî (Pr. 14:12). When we insist on doing it our way, we often find that our way leads to nothing but detriment. Whatever we trust inówhether itís our own judgments, emotions, desires or reasoningóif itís not from God, weíre on a path that leads to death.

Itís so easy to lie to ourselves, thinking that God is our God when in fact we make gods out of everything else in our lives. Some people tell you to be sure not to trust your emotions. I have some news for you: You canít trust your thinking either. The only thing you can trust is God. ìThy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my pathî (Ps. 119:105).

As we think through what it means to say that Jesus is our Lord, one thing we should say is that He alone sets our path. Once weíve got our paths straight, the second question we ask is:

2. WHO CHECKS YOUR PURITY?

Jesus not only says ìI am the way,î He also says, ìI am the truth...î (Jn. 14:6).

That word ìtruthî means a wholeness and integrity, purity. In fact, Jesus was not talking about some cosmic idea when He said this. It was His response to Pontius Pilate asking Him what is truth. Jesus just stood thereónot because He couldnít think of an answer but because He was the answer!

What made Jesus the truth was His integrity, His wholeness of purity. There was no deception in Him. God was on the throne of His life. He said, ìAs God is in me, and I am in God, we are one together.î Jesus came to demonstrate purity and integrity of life. These matter in the important things in life and the Lord seeks purity in our hearts.

Often times our hearts are not pure. We may say, ìYes, I want you to be Lord, but I also want this or that to be in my life.î These other things become like addictions. Do you realize you can set your mind on Jesus and still have something else on the throne of your life? Ananias and Sapphira did that in Acts 5, with their property.

During that time, the people in the church were selling their possessions and bringing the money to church to be given to the poor. Ananias and Sapphira decided to sell their property too. But, instead of bringing all the money to the church, they only brought a portion of it and then said before God and all the people gathered, ìWe gave all.î Look at the response to their lie: ìHow is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us, but to God.î (Acts 5:4 NRSV)

Peter told Ananias there was a war going on in his heart because you said to Jesus to be Lord, but his heart was contriving with greed, ego and deceit. Thatís what was really sitting on the throne of his heart.

This story scares me, because it shows me how easy it is in my own life to have a mind for Jesus but fool myself into not realizing that thereís another Lord on my heart. How can we test our hearts to know if thereís purity?

This is when the Word of God becomes handy. We need to use the Word as a mirror of our hearts. When we do this, it shows us the status and condition of purity of our hearts. It also shows us what other gods are there.

Q3: Hearing this Word, are there any ìlesser godsî hiding in your heart? What might they be? How can you deal with them directly?

Some of us go to Scripture for information. God didnít give us His Word to impart information but transformation. God wants to transform us. If we look to the Word as mirror to our hearts, we should say, ìLord, test my heart. Allow me to see the reflection of my heart in Your Word. I want to see if whatís in there stands true.î

Itís kind of like the ìdiamond ring test.î Youíll know a real diamond by scratching it against a plane of glass, like a mirror. If itís a real diamond, it will cut through the glass and leave a mark. However, if itís a fake diamond, itís probably a gem no tougher than a piece of glass and so it wonít be able to cut the glass. Test your character against the mirror-surface of Godís Word. Take the relationship you have with Jesus in your heart and scratch it across the mirror of Godís Word. If it leaves a mark, it will have a true diamond-like purity. If not, you may want to recheck your purity.

If Jesus is Lord, He will not only set your path but also your purity. And thirdly, the final question we should ask ourselves is...

3. WHO DETERMINES YOUR PASSION?

Jesus not only said, ìI am the way, and the truth,î He also said, ìI am the lifeî (Jn. 14:6).

The word for ìlifeî thatís used there is the Greek word zoa. Now, zoa doesnít just mean the opposite of death, it literally means ìan appetite for life, an aliveness, a zest for living, a passion.î

Iím amazed at how many people think Jesus came into the world to die out all of our passions. I know Christians who think Jesus was passionless. I donít know where they get that idea. Jesus lived a passionate life and He said, ìIíve come to fill in you a passion for living a life that God wants you to live.î

Jesus didnít come to squash passion from our lives, but came to direct us to appropriate passionsóthings that are worth being passionate about. Why? Because there are good passions and there are bad ones. There are things that are wonderful and there are things that are addictions.

And, actually, there are some addictions that we donít even consider to be addictions. For instance, letís do a quick ìaddict testî: How many of you eat everyday? How many of you drink everyday? Okay, both of those are like addictions because we do them on a regular basis. We donít call them addictions because they are healthy, however, weíre passionate about them. Erwin McManus, a pastor at Mosaic Church in Los Angeles, says this: ìAn addiction is a passion misdirected, a passion whose object has become addictive.î

Group activity: List passions that can become addictions. What are some possible consequences of these addictions?

Becoming a Christian doesnít mean we have to squash our passions. However, it does mean we take a good, strong look at the object of our passion and see if theyíre healthy or unhealthy.

Because otherwise we can make gods out of unhealthy things. We can make gods out of alcohol, pornography or benign things and turn them into gods. I know people whoíve made a god out of golf. We can have all kinds of gods when we become passionate about the wrong things. The enemy has his four Pís : Pleasure, Possessions, Position & Power. And he often sends forth one of these Pís to turn our passions into addictions.

Thatís why Paul told the Galatians, ìLive by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the spirit and what the spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other to prevent you from doing what you want.î (Gal. 5:16-17 NRSV).

Notice that he doesnít say to do away with desire. He simply says donít deal with the desires of the flesh and with the desires of the spirit. In other words, have passion for the things of God! Let God determine your passions! He even goes on to list the whole series of things that will cause death in Gal. 5:19-21. But then he gives us another list: ìThe fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-controlî (Gal. 5:22-26). He says against these things there is no law.

Being passionate about pursuing agape love leads us toward God. The question we need to ask ourselves is, ìHave I replaced God with an unhealthy passion?î Or, ìDo my passions lead me toward or away from God?î If Jesus Christ is our Lord, He wants to come into our lives in such a way that we become passionate about the things that He is passionate about.

ìBut whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.î (Philip. 3:7-9)

Q4: What are your passions? What do you love to do? What do you do on a regular basis? Now, according to the Scriptures from Galatians, evaluate which ones honor God & which ones may need to be pruned.

Q5: After coming to Christ, was there something you felt you had to give up? OR, Is there something the Lord is prompting you to give up now?

The answers to the questions: ìWho sets your path?î, ìWho checks your purity?î, and ìWho determines your passion?î says a lot about who is your Lord. But more important still, who determines your life? Because that answer will be your God.

FinalQ: What point most impacted you & how will you be different today for it?

Mahalo to Doreen Rabaino for faithfully stretching her volunteerís heart!