 Just to give you a spoiler for the end of this talk the answer is surrender Just what we started with it in this prayer, right? The answer at the end of this talk is the answer is going to be surrender So if you want to leave now, that's fine. You can come back in an hour. We'll have some praise and some prayer and some adoration a couple things Where to start I want to before I like launch into the topic for tonight There's something about being in a room with y'all that I mentioned it kind of this morning a little bit at mass, but It's so humbling and they truly Too to hear it like so many people say hey, I I teach in high school and I use your stuff all the time or I teach religious ed And I use your stuff all the time right every ministry or and I use your stuff Or I'm a mom or a dad and I use you know My kids will listen to you on the screen whatever and there's something really humble about that But the thing about that is it's like it's one thing How do I say this I? Will first you're welcome number two. I don't know. I'm gonna be gracious, but number two is I'm the one humble because it's one thing to sit in my living room and hit like record and then hit stop and then upload Something it's another thing entirely to be in relationship with people. That's so difficult It's messy as you know, like it's not a straight line, but straight line is record I'm gonna spell that we should And then at the end whatever I'm praying for you pray for me like that's super simple That's really easy. What you're doing is the messy stuff what you're doing. I'll say this what you're doing is what matters really? I mean I Buddy Christ, right? So I foot ear. You know the you know that scripture. I'm paraphrasing, but The brain cannot say to the appendix. I do not need you Wait a second but I'm really convinced of this and and it's It's that I truly believe that The gospel is going to transform our culture once again, but It is not going to happen by the person holding a microphone It's not gonna happen from a stage It's not gonna happen with on a billboard It's gonna happen through two means it's gonna happen through family and through friendships That's how the gospel is going to change the world like once again Because that's how it happened in the first place, right? It was it was through family and through friendships that had Christ conquered the world that the gospel reached out and transformed the culture And so again, it's fine to have these tools and I'm so grateful that I get to be the person who says the stuff But you're the ones who are making the difference Because without you so many people would never ever hear life-changing message of Jesus so I'm grateful that I get to offer a tool, but I realize it's just a tool That's one of the reasons why like it's it's so it's such an honor when I So when y'all who are in the trenches are saying like hey, thank you because I'm like well least you consider me one of you You know what I mean? sometimes it can be kind of sometimes gosh, sorry Sometimes it can be kind of isolating you know sometimes kind of isolating So thank you For like letting me be one of you Same with the brother priests like like they're like hey, thank you for the stuff. I'm like, okay, at least you don't hate me That's the fear, right? So anyways, that's the first thing you are the ones so please family and friendships. That's that's where we need to put our energies um Relationships This is the segue into the talk so On campus I talked to a lot of work at UMD University Minnesota Duluth and on campus We talk a lot about relationships obviously and there are some relationships in life that we just all know this right There are some relationships in life that the more the merrier so like you were how going out Can I come along? Absolutely the more the merrier when you have a roommate like you have a roommate and like hey We're gonna get a third or a fourth because you have a big house absolutely There are some relationships we have that are like they're they're increased They're magnified they're amplified when you add more people to them like sometimes a family's like that, right? So here's a kid. There's another kid. There's another kid like there's more love to go around It's kind of one of those great things At the same time We know that there are some relationships That don't tolerate rivals Think there's some relationships that actually are destroyed if you try to add another One obvious one marriage Because we know right we know that that that's the kind of relationship that doesn't tolerate tolerate the presence of rivals In fact a rival would destroy the relationship That's the kind of relationship that a rival would destroy that kind of relationship and the same thing is true when it comes to the Lord Here's our God who yeah, so many relationships are amplified magnified. I Remember hearing it one time someone said something like grief shared is grief divided and Joy shared is joyed multiplied So good, it's true, but some relationships Don't tolerate rivals the presence of rivals and if we permit the presence of rivals Then we're literally dooming the relationship marriages I can think of two marriages one a relationship with Jesus is Another that's one of the reasons why from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible one of the commands What are the main command that the primary commandment is what I am the Lord your God You shall have no other God before me another way to say this I'm though. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no rivals. There should be nothing in your life That is my rival. There should be nothing in your life. That's my competitor That when it comes down to it, it could be me or it could be the thing and Yet the whole story of the Bible is not just a story of the other nine sins Whole story of the Bible is a story of idolatry Whole story of the Bible is a story that every one of us falls into the trap of Tolerating if not creating at least tolerating the presence of rivals in our lives You know, so let's we're gonna talk about idols tonight obviously because it's on the title of the thing but I Think sometimes when we say the term idols we think of we think of the obvious things like the obvious idol is like You know, don't don't do idolatry like okay check I don't have like a little statue of whatever in my house with a little incense going up to it Like you don't do that like I'm fine. I don't I don't have any idols Or like this that kind of thing like I haven't based my life I haven't I've been found in my life around some evil thing the crazy thing is we often think that an idol is a bad thing false Very rarely do we make idols out of bad things? Very rarely do we make idols out of bad things? We almost always make idols out of good things Because that's what an idol is It is a good thing that we turn into an ultimate thing And that all is a good thing that we've turned into an ultimate thing and that all is a good thing that yeah Even maybe it's supposed to be in our lives We placed it at the center and we're willing to do anything to hold on to that thing willing to do anything To serve that thing willing to do anything to live for that thing and Idol is a good thing that we made into an ultimate thing and I don't agree on with John Calvin on a lot but a Lot but one of the things that John Calvin said is he said this is all of our problems not only in the Bible But every one of us he said the human heart is an idol making factory Human heart is an idol making factory And it's completely true in fact. I mean again, let's do the obvious ones first the most obvious idols I think we find on a regular basis in fact I saw this actually When I drove into town Actually most towns that I drive into or you know pass through I notice they have most towns have 24-hour adoration Like all over the country almost every town I've ever been in a certain, you know level people They have 24-hour adoration. They have these places where Anytime a day or night 24 hours a day. That's what that means You can walk up to a locked door just dig in your pocket pull out a keychain a little fob on it Scan the thing unlocks the door you walk in and you 24-hour worship the walls are lined with mirrors and the high Priests and high priestess is dressed in spandex And they tell you to spin faster and to jump higher and to sweat more and to lift more weights And we have 24-hour adoration places where you and I can go anytime of day or night and worship the body We have this Now the body's a good thing, right? Or else you're gonna have to come back for the theology body conference. Yes, the body's a good thing But an idol is not a bad thing and idol is a good thing that we make into an ultimate thing Another one. I mean gosh the last two years How many of us? How many of us the idol of security? Has been exposed The idol that that that I need to guarantee Has been completely revealed. In fact, I mean just for crying out loud we have One of the reasons why we have insurance Insurance is because we know that if I give my heart to something it can be taken away So I'm gonna put all this money down Would you like the extended warranty and that this and that the guarantee this because yes Because if I pay for the extended warranty that pay for the guarantee that I get that insurance Then you can't take this thing that I value away from me now insurance isn't bad obviously, but we don't make idols out of bad things We make idols out of good things that we turn into Ultimate things and so the thing I need the most the thing I need the most is I need to hold on to that security And how many of us two years ago is like man At any given moment it all can drop out the bottom can completely drop out for a lot of us for a lot of y'all The bottom did drop out What was certain you recognize that certainty was an illusion? Yeah, that's what we live under We don't live in security. We don't live in certainty. We live under the illusion of security. We live under the illusion of certainty So sometimes you need to break that idol or Think about I don't know sometimes people people make beauty into an idol. I remember a In a really simple ways, I remember talking with a mom my first assignments up in northern Minnesota She had two daughters And and one of the daughters was just super talented really athletic really funny really beautiful And this and there's other daughter her second daughter was kind of studious and Attractive but just very plain compared to her sister and remember her sharing with me She said I'm just really worried about the second daughter because you know, she's just not as beautiful as her older sister Which is makes sense. It's fine And I remember sharing with her I said actually I'm not worried about the second daughter your your younger daughter because She's figuring out who she is. I'm worried about your older daughter Because right now she's athletic right now. She's accomplished right now. She's beautiful at some point That athleticism will be taken away at some point those accomplishments will fade and at some point the reality is Her beauty will be gone Your younger daughter is not doesn't have the temptation to make her looks her appearance and idle your older daughter Will have to figure that out. Who is she when her? Accomplishments are taken away. Who is she when her beauty begins to fade? We all know people like this. We might be people like this taking good something good and Making it into the thing that we live for the thing we think about every single day the thing that you think about when you look In the mirror like a crow's feet 11's whatever those things are. I want to say this too Just so you know There's a rumor that I dye my hair. I do not dye my hair This guy someone email me and said you need to stop dyeing your hair looks like shoe polish and I was like listen, buddy I don't know why but the hair on my face is very gray. It's sorry. It's highlight highlights The ones on the head not yet. They're getting there But that's the thing is the temptation, of course is to take our health our appearance our security our Success and make those into ultimate things. I mean think about even in three in ministry one of the temptations is I want to have a significant ministry Why because I want to serve the Lord. That's how it started But now I want to have significant ministry because then it means I'm significant when I'm successful ministry Yes, of course, I want people to come to know Jesus But I also want them to come to know Jesus through me and so when someone else Like have you heard about someone so she's an incredible youth minister you heard about this guy? He's such a great religion teacher. You're like Yeah, they're fine It's one of the ways one of the ways in which gosh, I mean think about King Saul, right? We all know the story of King Saul especially after David defeats Goliath and what happens I mean Saul at one point is celebrating David. He's like, yes, because David killed Goliath, you know Goliath, you know the story glad came out day after day week after week month after month challenged all the armies of Israel Saul was there He didn't go out He was willing to give David his armor Yeah, son go up there and when David defeated Goliath Saul rejoiced up until the moment when what happened? They were coming into the cities and they said Saul his slain his thousands. That's pretty good Especially if you haven't done anything yet Saul slain his thousands and David his 10,000 from that moment on What happens Saul becomes envious of David? And what's envy we probably know this already But but what is envy and he's one of those idols and he's one of those results of an idol, right? And he's one of the results of the idols of significance and he's one of the idols a result of the idol of I want to be successful Because why and envy I'll say this envy is to jealousy as vandalism is to stealing so Back when I was in high school, I remember being a senior in high school, right? it was the two days before my senior year started and My parent my family was away. We came back to our that my parents home I walked in the house. I was like something's weird and somebody broken in the this the back door And they had stolen some stuff and we walked through the whole house It was kind of creepy. You know someone broke into the house and stole stuff But in one of the rooms they didn't steal anything But they broke a bunch of stuff and my dad had said you know what? I'm not mad at the fact that they stole stuff. I'm not happy about it I'm not mad at the fact they stole stuff because here's someone who's in need and they took something because they needed it He said I am really mad And the fact they just broke this Because they didn't do anything right? It's just like I don't want you to have this thing. That's what envy is like Jealousy is that sense of like oh, I want that too It's kind of it's almost a positive thing. In fact, there are positive forms of jealousy like a husband is jealous About his wife's heart. That's good God who's jealous about our hearts. That's good But envy is different Envy is simply I'm sad because People recognize you. I'm sad because you're happy. I'm sad because you have this great gift I'm sad because your ministry has been successful and I see myself as less than because About God has used you. Does that make sense? So we have this idol of significance which leads into this pain of envy Which leads to a place of just anger and resentment. I mean how many times how many how many of us do we know? Maybe even ourselves who are our ministry has been marked by resentment Because I thought if I worked for the church it'd be like this Thought if I gave my life for the Lord to be like this But it's not like this So I'm upset with the people who are recognized And I'm upset with the Lord I'm resentful at him because it's not what I thought it would be to experience this resentment We experience this envy we experience Even this this anger Now all of those plus a bunch others right are the obvious idols Those are the kind of idols that if you looked at the examination of conscience to be like, oh, yeah, yeah Yeah, I got it. I get it again plus like 10 or 20 or a hundred more Those are all obvious idols But the title of this talk is not obvious idols title of the talk is I think subtle idols Oftentimes like the hidden idols and the kind of subtle or kind of hidden idols that strike me the most Are not the kind where we Turn away from God to another thing But the kind where we turn God into another thing Now we turn away from God to another thing But what we take God and turn him into another thing and there's four kind of ways I want to kind of unpack how we typically do this our idol making factory hearts One is well here they are treating God like a toy like a talisman like a therapist like a twin See, there's teas teas are involved in all of them Pedagogy so This all comes from the book of Exodus In book of Exodus chapter 31. There's a there's a there's an account that just always strikes me as being just You know, it's one of those things where you hear a story your entire life And then at one point you hear it in a new way and it's like marks everything you see from the non This is Exodus 31 is is 32. I mean is one of those Exodus 31 plus one Exodus 32 is the story of the golden calf So we all know this story and we know that I knew the story like this I knew the story that Moses goes up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments and He comes down and the people of Israel are now worshiping the golden calf that they've turned away From the Lord God and they're worshiping now this golden calf, which is part of the story But if we get down into the details of the story, it's Something I never noticed So here's the golden calf But how are the people of Israel worshiping? What are the people of Israel saying about the golden calf because I always thought how stupid is this? How dumb is it that here's the Lord God who ten plagues? Delivers them through the Red Sea Gets him to this place of life. They see his glory on the mountain, right? So much so that there's fire and there's Earthbreak and there's lightning and there's clouds and they say most is hey You go up and talk to the Lord because if we do we're gonna die that they see it like the witness of God and they After a couple days, they're like, you know what? We're gonna go back to like, you know, the golden calf we're gonna go to we're gonna turn to another God The reason is because they didn't think they were turning to another God Here's what they say Exodus 32 Verse 2 and following it says Aaron said have your wives and sons and daughters take off their golden earrings They're wearing and bring them to me. So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron who accepted their offering and Fashioning this gold with a graving tool made a molten calf. Then they cried out. Here's the line Then they cried out. This is your God who Israel who brought you up out of the land of Egypt You notice what they're what they're saying they're not in their mind. They're not turning away from the God who saved them What they're doing what they're doing is they're saying they're the God who saves us who saved us This is him They're not turning away from God to other things they're turning God into another thing and that's the first thing is treating God like a toy How many of us are tempted on a regular basis on a completely normal basis those of us who love the Lord God are Tempted to treat him like a toy what I mean by a toy what I mean by a toy is like the golden calf What you can do with a golden calf. It's awesome When you want the golden calf to be close to you go over to the golden calf Take them out put them in your midst golden calf golden calf when you're done Put them back It's what we do with toys When you want to play with the Barbie take the Barbie out of the box when you're done playing with the Barbie put the Barbie back in The box It is an on again often and kind of off again kind of a situation and this is one of the things that man How often do we try to control God? How often do we try to control God that song we sang before the last song we sang the middle song we sang You know I'm talking about it said Something about negotiation how many times do we approach God with an eye and mind negotiation? Okay, God. Here's the deal. It's my prayer I'm going to do this this and this you're going to do that that and that I'm doing it humbly Lord. Please if I do this this and this would you please do that that and that? How often do we come before the Lord and present our resume? Never sorry. You guys got quiet all of a sudden How often we present God with our resume? It's like, okay, God Hear all the reasons Why you should listen to me and It doesn't even mean that we're being jerky. We're not being mean. We're not trying to be like what we might not even think We're being manipulative But we're trading a relationship For a manipulation ship. Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah But that's what it is. I mean how often we approach God not in a relationship as sons and daughters with our father but as a manipulation as A negotiation as I'm going to present him with my resume because why because he's kind of the toy He's the toy that I get to negotiate with he's that that that God that if I want him close He's close and if I don't he doesn't have to be that close Big God we could treat God like a golden calf even the God of the universe Who abides in a golden tabernacle, you know the people of Israel? I Think Jeremiah was the prophet who said Listen people of Israel How long how long we go on saying? This is the temple of God temple of God the temple of God You know because God's presence dwelt in the temple Remember his glory hovered over the temple that you could see the Sheki not cloud where you see the glory cloud over the temple and so here's the people of Israel who are saying like yeah We're unfaithful and we don't really care about God when we want them we go to the temple We don't we go away from the temple and also look at the temple. This this is the temple of God This is the temple of God. This is the temple of God and what do we do as Catholics? We're content being unfaithful Well, we have the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist This is the presence of God. This is the presence of God. This is the presence of God and we're treating God like a toy You're like not never the Eucharist Okay, hopefully not you, but I know it's one of our temptations To treat the Eucharist the very presence of Jesus Christ as a toy when I want to be close to him I go there when I don't I Don't so sometimes we treat God as a toy It's one of the ways one of the subtle idols in our lives even the real God You know what I'm saying like this is the real God We're not talking about a fake God talking about the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist That has now become for me a toy. The other one is we treat God like a talisman or what am I maybe a talisman? Well, I'm kind of like a good luck charm Another way you say it is I treat God like my ATM That that we here's the deal. Here's the situation Kind of like the resume Kind of like the negotiation It's um My vision of God is I approach God. I live a good life. He hears my prayers give me good things So God is kind of in my back pocket as that talisman God's in my back pocket as that good luck charm God isn't the center of my life, but he's really important part of my life So that if I if I need him he's basically my parachute That's my parachute And this is really fascinating for I want to go down two roads quick The first one is I find that if we approach God like a talisman That good luck charm that ATM that if God is good, then he's gonna give you good things God is good. He's gonna give me good things I'm sure you've seen this. Maybe you've seen it in your own heart Maybe you've seen it in the lives of your teens lives of your youth lives of the people you work with is That yeah, I know God loves me But then the moment real suffering happens There's tailspin It's just I'm out of control why because wait a second. I thought you said God was good I thought you said God loved me and if he loved me if he's good if he's a good good father, right? Then why am I going through this pain? Because in my mind a good dad doesn't let you go through pain. Does that make sense? How many times have we all seen this happen in our lives and the lives of our youth because it's just so interesting I wonder if there's so much stuff that goes into this I think one of the things that goes into it is because in the early church those who encountered the gospel they had first encountered the world I Want to say that again when people encountered the gospel typically they had first encountered the cross without Jesus on it In the early proclamation of the gospel people that already known they already knew life is difficult They already knew that life is broken. They already knew that this world is a mess And then they found out wait a second, but we're not alone Wait a second There's a God who actually has drawn near to us and he's embraced this cross and he's born it with me and for me So I don't have to live die in my sins. So that actually there's more to this life than just this brokeness. That's great news But a lot of us having been raised Christian raised Catholic The first message is thank you to God is God loves you That's not a bad message by the way first message life is hard But our first message has been God loves you and God wants your good those two things are still true God loves you once you're good, and then what happens is then we encounter the cross a lot of us a Lot of our teams a lot of my college students They've heard God loves them and then they encounter the cross and all of a sudden it's wait a second wait a second wait a second If God's good and God loves me The wise there this brokeness if God's good and God loves me The wise there's the suffering if God's good and God loves me then why is there a cross here? And so then we fall away Because God was supposed to be my talisman God was supposed to be my good luck charm God was supposed to be the ATM who bailed me again another way to say is you know We have this problem, and I always say that when we encounter this problem. I blame Parents I thought it was funnier than I mean I guess maybe there's a room of a bunch of parents who are like You can leave now father Here's what I mean When I grew up when a lot of y'all grew up There's such a thing as latchkey kids remember remember latchkey kids like maybe you were a latchkey kid What that meant for the those two youngsters? Latchkey kid was mom and dad are working and so when you come up come up from school You have a key so you let yourself in your house You take care of yourself and kind of do your thing because mom and dad are doing their thing Apparently the story is that in our culture those latchkey kids grew up saying I don't want to be like that I Don't want to be like my mom and dad who are never there for me, so I'm gonna be there for my kids That's a good impulse And so you but then that gave rise to the what's known as the helicopter parent, right? So the helicopter The helicopter parent is the one who like my kids in trouble If that lands in there, you know, it's so funny because there is a deacon on our campus He was the head of housing for 35 years He said when he first started working in housing he dealt all the time he dealt with with students Housing issues he said the last 10 15 years of working in housing. He never he rarely dealt with students He almost always dealt with their parents that these parents were driving up from the Twin Cities two and a half hours Three hours to meet with them in his office and he would say Why am I not meeting with your son or your daughter and they'd say you don't have to meet with them You're meeting with me because that sense of like here my son or daughter is in trouble. I'm here to Face the trouble. I'm here to resolve the issue That's what a good parent does right they you're in pain. They take you with a pain Now we have a new iteration. We had latchkey kids and we had helicopter parents There's a new iteration of parents that you probably know about this. I call them Zamboni parents So in northern Minnesota in Minnesota, you know, we have ice rinks hockey rinks. You might have them too The Zamboni, what's the Zamboni do the Zamboni goes over the rough ice and makes Right takes the takes the ice and just makes it like no, baby doll. It's okay Okay, honey child. Let's make you all smooth here. So That's so there's not gonna be rough. There's not gonna be rough ice for you I'm gonna go ahead of you and we're gonna pave the way and it's gonna be it's gonna be smooth sailing now Both the helicopter parent and the Zamboni parent okay Confession if I were a biological parent 100% I would be I would be a Zamboni parent like even with my nieces and nephews I like I'm like I'm how can I solve gonna solve all your problems? Like how can I spare you anything? I would dress them up with helmets elbow pads full body armor every single day like I am no better Yeah, I would be that way, but here's the thing the problem is If that's what a good parent does if a good parent is one where you're suffering They come to the rescue and the good parents one who goes ahead of you and makes things smooth. It takes away every obstacle But then here I am in the middle of a really difficult life Because we know this Life is difficult. This world is broken ford. You've suffered more than maybe Ford more than you deserve maybe and if God doesn't take you out of that suffering doesn't take you away from that pain Then is he really good? Because that's what good parents do right they take away the pain is that who God reveals himself to be in the Bible Is he the good luck term is he the talisman is he the Zamboni parent or the helicopter parent? He reveals that he's not in Fact he reveals that he is what parents are supposed to be I Remember hearing someone talk about this is a yeah to a certain point parents your job is to keep your kids safe To a certain point your job is to keep your kids safe, but the problem is You can't make the world safer The world is broken and the world is dangerous and You can't make the world Fixed and you can't make the world safe. So your job as a parent is Not to make the world safe, but to make your kids strong Your job is not to make the world less dangerous, but to make your kids courageous That's the job of a parent. Yes. Yes protect them You know keep away from the stove and heights and stuff But after that is to prepare them for this world that will actively try to kill them By making them strong by making them courageous by making them brave by making them willing to face danger knowing knowing There's a go out to face danger. They're always loved This is how the fathered. I mean so the father reveals his fatherhood right with Jesus The father to clear is over his son Jesus Christ. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased Before he does anything Before Jesus does anything he's baptized by John and the Jordan this is and the father claims him just like just like the father claims you all He's not a toy Not a talisman He's a dad and he claims you But then what does he do with the son? He allows his son To enter into his passion he allows his son to enter into grief He allows his son to enter into sorrow He allows his son to enter into death to be overwhelmed by death because his son is dangerous Because the son is strong Because the strongest the son our Lord Jesus is courageous Imagine that ever reflect on that that God himself is courageous because you don't need to be courageous if you are the immutable God Invincible you don't need to be courageous God humbles himself. He makes himself vulnerable. He makes himself invincible and then he be any reveals that he's also courageous Saying be like me In this world that is actively trying to kill you be like me in this world where suffering is real Be like me in this world where good people don't always get what they deserve and bad people don't always get what they deserve be like me Not treating God like a talisman, but knowing that God is your father. Amen so We sometimes the huddle subtle idle God's a toy sometimes a subtle idle God is a talisman sometimes a subtle idle is God as a therapist God simply the one who make money. He's there to make me feel better Like I come before God with my problems, and he's like oh there there, buddy Cheer up there buckaroo So we go into prayer and what happens is like well I didn't feel anything you know that the sense of like That God's here to affirm me in my Whatever I'm going through Now this is a this is a apparently I'm not a therapist, and I I've studied a little therapy I've heard a lot of therapists one therapist in particular. He had shared. He said that He said affirmation therapy is one thing that's kind of big like people commonly say is my experience You're supposed to affirm them. It's my experience. Okay, just affirm them in their experience. He's like that's not a good therapist And God was to do that if he was just simply to affirm us as we approached him that would not be a good God Got here. I'm going through this and just like yeah, yeah, it's true. That's rough. That's it. It's kind of as if it's as if his only role It's a simply offer us comfort and to affirm us in our brokenness It's not his job But I can see all the scriptures in which God reveals. I care for you. I am the come I mean the Holy Spirit the Comforter That that I delight in you That I treasure you We can hear those scriptures and say well that must mean then That God simply is here to comfort me simply here to comfort me They simply here to affirm me and if he doesn't then Maybe I shouldn't give him my heart See that that's the that's the problem with the idols It's just like at the beginning of this we talked about how The big answer the big question and the big answer is does God have permission to love you as you are the flip side of that is Are you willing to love God as he is? As he's actually revealed himself to be So toy talisman therapist and twin twin is interesting They're all interesting. I think twin is exceptionally interesting. Why because oftentimes when I say we make God our twin What I mean is I've made God in my image of likeness. So what's that mean? That means God likes what I like God thinks the way I think God affirms what I affirm kind of like the therapist God dislikes what I dislike God prefers what I prefer What we can simply do is is we can Create our own version of God So the version of God that I approach is not really Jesus. He's my version my my flavor of Jesus That is my flavor of God that I just simply named Jesus to make sense You know, I found this I find this in my life so Horribly, it's just the worst. I find it especially When it comes to my own opinions, I've heard it said that opinions are like noses Everyone has them and they all smell There's a PG-13 version of that as well That I'm not gonna say from here But I find that when I Think the God holds my opinion I Have to wonder in whose image We're dealing with is it I'm in God's image or he's in my engine There was a great book by Philip Yancey years ago I read called what's so amazing about grace and at one point he tells the story of this baseball player and who's a Christian and Baseball here was asked the question by one of his the interviewers that said okay If Jesus was playing baseball and he was running from third to home and the catcher had the ball Would he take the out, you know get tagged out or would he you know run into the catcher and try to knock the ball loose and The professional baseball player who's also Christian said well, I think Jesus would play fair But he'd also play to win He'd probably go to knock the ball out And Philip Yancey pointed this out. He said I was listening to this man talk and I was like, um, I think that's what you would do I don't even know if Jesus would be playing baseball In fact, I think like me he'd be a swimmer because he'd win every race I mean just like run across the top, you know, you wouldn't have to like dive in he's just like But that's the thing is how often do we find that Jesus's opinions of politics are our opinions of politics The Jesus's view of pick your issue. I don't even want to name any because all of a sudden I'd be killed Is my opinion of that issue We have this trap Because these are the subtle idols we have gods are toy gods are talisman gods are therapist gods my twin So how do we break free of this there's three ways how do we break free of this? Um, the first is as I as I mentioned, um, oh, but by the way, does that make sense kind of? Good. No father. You're just wasted your time First thing is surrender. I said this is gonna be the answer, right? The first thing is surrender And what I mean by surrender is um Basically saying okay god you get my heart God I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna let go I I give I surrender my will to yours What you reveal yourself to is that same thing as like gotta give you permission to love me as I am And I strive to love you as you are as you've actually revealed yourself to to be and so the problem with that is It means we need to let go of our assumptions It means we need to let go let go of our expectations Problem with that so when I do marriage prep one of the things We talk about is expectations in marriage. What are you expecting in marriage? And a lot of times We have unmet expectations or unfulfilled expectations. How many of you who have married like hooray. Yes, that's my life Like three of you great. Okay, so We have these things called unmet expectations in marriage And I think they come from what I would term uncommunicated assumptions So a lot of times uncommunicated assumptions lead to unmet expectations So it's like I always give the example of like what do we do with the garbage can? And there's the uh, the groom was like, why isn't she taking out the garbage? My mom would always take out the garbage everyone knows that the woman takes out the garbage And she's saying why isn't he taking out the garbage everyone my dad would take out the garbage That's how he served my mother. Why is he not taking everyone knows this or it's something not gendered You know, it's gonna be something like You know the person's making the meal and they're like, why aren't they taking out the garbage? Everyone knows the person who one person makes the meal the other person cleans up after them Everyone knows this well the other person's saying why aren't they cleaning up after themselves? Everyone knows the person who makes the mess cleans up the mess everyone knows these things the problem with Uncommunicated uncommunicated assumptions is I used to ask our couples like what are some of your uncommunicated assumptions? And they're like we don't know that's the problem Because you don't know what your assumptions are until it's like oh You don't think the same as I do I guess I remember there was a couple Not only did they have the normal differences between male and female But she was from northern minnesota and he was from central america. Now. Here's something you need to know in central america Um, maybe you know this already central america. Um, if you offered something The answer is would you like some of this the answer is? Yes In minnesota, would you like this? No, no, no We're under contractual obligation as minnesotans To refuse and offer three times Hey, you want something to drink? No, no, i'm good. No, no serious. I'm gonna get something to drink You want some no, and i'm fine. No, i'm going to the kitchen. I'm gonna come back with with some some pop with some pop You want some? Okay That's called being polite. That's manners So here's this woman from minnesota who's visiting her future husband's mother And she's like would you like some food? No, no, no, no, would you like something to drink? No, no, no, no Would you like this? No, no, no, no, and he's like say yes to my mother like what the heck What are you why are you being so rude? She's like, no, i'm not being rude. I'm being the opposite of rude Why does he have assumptions so uncommunicated assumptions lead to unmet expectations when it comes to the lord The same thing can be true I don't know what I expected god to be I don't know what I assumed life would be like until all of a sudden it's like, oh, it's not How I just assumed it to be that's when I know that's what I need to surrender that makes sense I didn't realize that okay following the lord would be like this Okay, it is like this I surrender It's that god to give you permission to love me as you want to love me I thought it would be like this But how it really is okay lord. Yes, I surrender to this The problem with the assumptions we don't know until they're exposed. We don't know until they're revealed That brings up another point which is One of the reasons why we read scripture God you have permission to love me as I am And he says okay now can you love me as I am? I don't know can't I can't tell you how many people uh wrote to me over the last year year and a half Catholics go on a mass every single sunday Who are deeply disturbed by what they heard in the bible their bible In fact, I remember getting a letter from from this man. Um The woman I worked with she was like I got this letter I don't want to give it to you because it wasn't signed and now in seminary They always told us if there's an unsigned letter. Don't read it. Just throw it away and I'm like I can handle it Hand it over. I read it. It was this man who's going through the bible in a year And they're right before he's like maybe in day 90s somewhere in there He says I'm going through with my parish and we all hate it We all can't believe that this is what god is like So I hear that john's gospel is coming up and hopefully that'll that'll salvage something but if not we're all done And it was like oh my gosh Here is god himself who's like this is what I'm like. This is my heart Here's god declaring over us. I love you as you are. Let me love you as you are But also are you willing to love me as I am the thing with surrender to the lord is I have to know who he is That's one of the reasons why having a biblical worldview is the solution Because god knows not god knows us Do I know him? Am I willing to let him reveal himself to me as he wants to reveal himself to me through scripture and through the church Part of the solution to the idols God gets to reveal his real heart to me his true heart to me Because one of the things is the second thing We're almost there Is that jesus in the gospels he says if you want to be my disciple three things deny yourself paper cross and Just look at that first Qualification first criterion for a disciple he jesus says if you want to be my disciple deny yourself now. It's so fascinating I always thought this is like perfect for lent because that's what we do in lent, right? I'm going to deny myself things I'm going to deny myself stuff. I want But then I did some reading because I had to be able to talk about the bible a little bit and One of the things that that the commentaries revealed was that when jesus says deny yourself He's not saying deny yourself things. He's saying deny yourself meaning renounce yourself Disavow Your allegiance to yourself This is deeper, right? This is deeper than chocolate for lent. This means actually This is in the gospel On holy thursday night We're on the charcoal fire Simon peter denies that he knows jesus He disavowed any relationship with jesus He renounced his relationship with jesus And jesus is saying if you want to be my disciple you have to disavow yourself Renounce yourself not simply deny yourself things But deny yourself does that make sense? It goes so much deeper right that sense of like What's my primary allegiance? Is my primary allegiance in life to me Or is my primary allegiance in life To the lord The only thing that will kill the idol is if I let god reveal himself to me, right biblical worldview Surrender to him but then also I have to renounce disavow my primary allegiance because every one of us has our primary allegiance to ourselves And we have you love your family you love the people that you've committed your life to that's so good But that's why jesus says If you love mother father Husband wife children more than me Not worthy of me In fact even says if you love yourself more than me you're not worthy of me To kill the idol Is to say okay, I renounce my primary allegiance to myself My primary allegiance now belongs to the lord jesus Now this is all This is the last thing promise This might be all abstract right now, right? How do I surrender? How do I renounce myself? It's very practical in fact If you remember if you remember back in the in the old testament, um After the kingdom is divided the 12 12 tribes right united They're get divided to the king of Israel and the north and the king of juda in the south There's jerbom who's that jerky king who establishes kingdom the 10 10 tribes in the north No, he knows something's gonna happen. He knows that even though he's the king in the north king of israel The people are going to keep going down to Jerusalem. They're going down to juda to worship the lord god And he knows if they keep going down to juda if they keep going to jerusalem to worship the lord god He's gonna lose their hearts. He's gonna lose their allegiance. So what does he do? He sets up two different places of worship in dan and then befel He sets up a whole new priesthood whole new system of worship Why because jeroboam even though he's jerky jeroboam. He knew He knew he knew the truth about the human heart what you worship You love What we're willing to worship Possesses us holds us grasps us why because the heart of worship. This is important the heart of worship Is sacrifice The heart of worship is sacrifice So here you are You'd be going to jerusalem to worship the lord god meaning to sacrifice what matters to you to the lord god Making that journey to the lord god Offering the lamb to the lord god offering whatever grains you add to the lord god And your heart would belong to him because your stuff belonged to him you sacrifice stuff So instead you know what we're gonna do set up a place of worship in dan and in bethel and you're gonna give Your stuff To this false god to this idol And what's gonna happen even if you don't want it to happen Is that idol will hold your heart will own your heart will possess your heart. This is true for all of us If we want to kill Idolatry in our hearts want to make sure that god doesn't have a rival in our hearts Yes, we surrender meaning just we just say you don't even have to like feel it just say good god My heart is yours perfect great Number two we have a biblical worldview where we deny ourselves have our primary allegiance to the lord jesus But the third thing is We regularly worship the lord god Meaning we sacrifice. We're going to sacrifice not only mass obviously But there's three areas of our lives that matter the most to us and they reveal what we love Our time our money And our entertainment i'll say it like this I always I got this from focus. I love it. I felt fellowship catholic university students It was the line of What's the mark of a disciple? A disciple is someone who's willing to change their schedule to get closer to jesus A disciple is someone who willing to change their schedule to get closer to jesus If I sacrifice my time for the lord jesus Man, he's gonna have your heart. Don't worry. Don't worry if you feel it or not He's gonna have your heart Sacrifice your time if you and if I don't sacrifice my time to follow jesus Not only am I not a disciple He will never have my heart Please sit with that If I don't regularly not perfectly but regularly sacrifice My change my schedule to get closer to jesus not only will I not be a disciple of jesus He will never get access to my heart number two My stuff And not saying so therefore it's called bulldog catholic.org So you can donate to umd campus ministry like that's not what i'm saying What i'm saying is at some point I have to actually My checkbook reveals what I love My checkbook reveals who has what has my heart So my calendar reveals my heart My checkbook reveals my heart and lastly I said entertainment, but what I basically mean is what we consume What I consume has my heart That would the entertainment I consume The food I consume The alcohol I consume The uh what I do with my free time These three things because i'm giving myself to those things those three things Will either kill the subtle idols in our lives Or they'll feed the subtle idols in our lives And if you and I want to be the kind of people who belong truly and fully to the lord jesus that means not only Do we surrender to him say hey lord You have access We let him be him We deny ourselves a primary allegiance belongs to him, but also in a practical way My calendar reflects the fact that jesus is the one I live for My checkbook reflects the fact that jesus is the one I live for My entertainment choices my food choices my drinking choices Reflect that jesus is the one I live for Because he's one who lives And loves you You know so many lies and so many subtle idols in our lives But the lord god who loves us he loves us with a crazy love like where he loves us Who like in so many ways we don't deserve his love One of the reasons why like what when god loves us what does he do he places that himself him he places himself in our That's pretty crazy He places himself on our tongue. That's pretty crazy God becomes a baby That for the first moment we even knew he existed we tried to kill him It's the most moment people in nazareth found out that maybe he's the one who says he is tried to kill him Comes into jesus and reveals i'm the great i am and what do we do we try to kill him That kind of love is crazy that kind of love is reckless that kind of love is is dangerous That's the kind of that's the kind of god that we serve. That's the kind of god who loves you with a reckless ridiculous absurd love And that's the kind of that's the kind of god that we get to worship tonight That's the kind of god Who loves us like this It's the kind of god who loves us They're becoming so humble that he lets us pass by him in the tabernacle and not even notice He lets us casually approach him in the Eucharist and not even Not even blink But he says i love you as you are that's reckless And that crazy and ridiculous And reckless love is the kind that just wants to tear down every idol in our hearts That kind of crazy and ridiculous and reckless love is the one that kind of wants to stomp over every lie that has approached our hearts And that crazy and ridiculous and reckless love Is the kind that just says I'm willing to love you As you are And ask the question are you willing to love me? As I am