Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Group intro -

Scripture

Hear God speak, not self help or opinions

Scripture transforms us

It is the foundation for the other two

Prayer

Us speaking back to God

Acknowledging the truth of scripture

Community

The context that scripture and prayer are effective

Not just socializing - ministering the gospel to each other

Review

Studying Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller

The topic is identifying and dealing with idols

It is good, but not required to read through the chapter and make notes and questions

Starting applications - but Keller is layering in lessons that apply to all idols

Last lesson

Love, relationships, and sex can be idols

Jacob idolized Rachel for her beauty - to the destruction of his family

Leah, the forgotten one, tried to find meaning in getting her husbands love by giving him sons

Idols always disappoint - we always wake up with Leah

We solve it not by blaming others or ourselves, we reorient our hope on our true lover

Jesus was rejected for us so that we could be accepted

Intro to this lesson

What problems does money cause?

Our society focuses on money - who has it, who doesnt

The 1%

Our last election focused around money - even though we have a had a really strong recovery

We focus on money - one of the top reasons couples fight

Greed

Greed is embedded in our culture

Keller begins with a story, but do we really doubt there is greed around us?

We see it in businesses and individuals - easy to come up with examples

Skeirelli - the guy who jacked up drug prices just was sentenced for jail

Its to the point that we almost dont notice these stories

“We should not think of it as a market trend like the rising value of waterfront property, but as something more like the sexual revolution of the 1960s—a relaxation of old strictures, a new permissiveness, but in this case the permissiveness is financial rather than sexual.”

- Paul Krugman in the NYT

It is part of our culture and everyone knows it is damaging

So why dont things change?

Keller, T. (2011).

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (p.

50).

New York: Riverhead Books.

Keller’s answer - because greed and avarice are especially hard to see in ourselves.

Keller, T. (2011).

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (p.

51).

New York: Riverhead Books.

Greed embedded in ourselves (?)

It is hidden in ourselves, we never think we are greedy

As a pastor I’ve had people come to me to confess that they struggle with almost every kind of sin.

Almost.

I cannot recall anyone ever coming to me and saying, “I spend too much money on myself.

I think my greedy lust for money is harming my family, my soul, and people around me.” Greed hides itself from the victim.

The money god’s modus operandi includes blindness to your own heart.

Have you ever recognized greed in yourself?

Did you tell anyone about it?

Keller, T. (2011).

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (p.

52).

New York: Riverhead Books.

One reason we do not see it - we compare ourselves

Once you are able to afford to live in a particular neighborhood, send your children to its schools, and participate in its social life, you will find yourself surrounded by quite a number of people who have more money than you.

You don’t compare yourself to the rest of the world, you compare yourself to those in your bracket.

The human heart always wants to justify itself and this is one of the easiest ways.

You say, “I don’t live as well as him or her or them.

My means are modest compared to theirs.”

You can reason and think like that no matter how lavishly you are living.

Who are you comparing yourself to?

Are you justifying yourself with these comparisons?

Keller, T. (2011).

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (pp.

52–53).

New York: Riverhead Books.

Jesus warns people far more often about greed than about sex, yet almost no one thinks they are guilty of it.

Therefore we should all begin with a working hypothesis that “this could easily be a problem for me.”

Keller, T. (2011).

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (p.

53).

New York: Riverhead Books.

The story of Zacchaeus

We are told three things about him

He was a chief tax collector

He was rich

He was vertically challenged

Tax collector

No one likes the IRS, but it was more than that.

They collected taxes for the enemy - Rome

These were oppressive

The only ones rich were Romans, and the tax collectors

The people called Zacchaeus a “sinner”, which meant apostate or outcast.

If you want to get a sense of how these functionaries were regarded, think of what people thought of the collaborators who, under the Nazis, oppressed their own people during World War II; think of drug lords who get rich enslaving thousands of the weakest people of the inner city … Now you can understand the stature of tax collectors at this time.

Why would anyone do this?

Keller, T. (2011).

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (p.

54).

New York: Riverhead Books.

The answer was money

The tax collector was allowed to set his own wages

He charged on top of the required tax

Had the force of law

Basically extortion

And he was lit. the Arch-Tax Collector

Money as a master

The context of this statement is in part of a warning against trusting in retirement savings and next to a discussion on anxiety