Within Instrument’s in the Redeemer’s Hands, Paul Tripp asked what the Bible has to say about why people do the things they do. He then began to unpack a biblical answer to that question by looking at the heart in Luke 6:43-45, where Jesus said out of the abundance of their heart, a person produces either good or evil. Tripp said: “If my heart is the source of my sin problem, then lasting change must always travel through the pathway of my heart.” This means it’s not enough to simply change your circumstances or alter your behavior without a truly repentant heart. External pressure can result in temporarily “good” behavior without a heart change, but when the pressure is removed, the changes recede, and the good behavior will disappear.
The person did the “Christian” things because he was expected to do them, but his “good” actions did not come from a heart that was surrendered to God. Faith had never been rooted in his heart. “As a result, his words, choices, and actions did not reveal a heart for God. Good behavior lasts for a while, but it proved to be temporary because it was not rooted in the heart.” It wasn’t what he really treasured, so it didn’t rule his heart.
Within the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:19-24), Jesus taught about what rules the heart by using the metaphor of treasure. In Matthew 6:21, Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Christ went on to say no one can serve two masters. Paul Tripp drew three principles from this passage: everyone seeks some kind of treasure; what you treasure controls your heart; and what controls your heart controls your behavior. This is even true for good, Godly things we treasure.
The work you undertook to support your family becomes the source of identity and achievement you can’t give up. The house you built for the shelter and comfort of your family becomes a temple for the worship of possessions. A rightful attention to your own needs morphs into a self-absorbed existence. . . The things we set our hearts on never remain under our control. Instead, they capture, control, and enslave us.
In other words, they become idols that rule our hearts instead of God; while we think we are hearing and obeying Him, we’re not.
Idols in Our Hearts
There is a passage in Ezekiel that Paul Tripp brought to his readers attention to develop this idea further, Ezekiel 14:1-5. There the elders of Israel came to Ezekiel with questions they wanted to ask God. But God can see there is something wrong with them and points this out to Ezekiel:
1Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. 2 And the word of the Lord came to me: 3 “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? 4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.
In his commentary on Ezekiel, Ian Duguid noted where these elders had come to the prophet presumably to seek an encouraging oracle from the Lord. But instead, they were charged with setting up idols in their hearts. Duguid said this was reminiscent of Ezekiel 8:10-12, where the elders were denounced for their secret idolatry. The elders in exile struggled with the same sin as those left behind in Judah: internal idolatry. So, they will not receive an answer for their inquiry, “except an answer of judgment (13:4).”
By this means, the Lord will ‘seize’ their hearts, arresting them for their sin (14:5). Seeking to serve two masters will result in judgment by the Lord, the only ‘master’ with any real power to act.
Duguid went on to say that their hearts were torn between two loyalties. They were attracted by the blessings the idols seemed to promise; the greener grass they offered. The result was they deserted the Lord for their idols (14:5). “Such people … should not expect to receive a word of divine guidance through the prophet.” They would become an example and a byword (14:8); a proverbial warning of the dangers of divided loyalties.
Those who feel abandoned by God find that the pull of seeking out other gods increases, other gods whom they think can deliver the sense of security and significance they seek. If the Lord cannot deliver, why not try Marduk or one of the Babylonian gods? Their hearts are torn between two loyalties, and they are attracted by the blessings that the idols seem to promise.
Similarly, any prophet who attempted to provide an oracle for them faced a similar judgment. There were other prophets in exile besides Ezekiel, and the temptation to shop around for a more favorable word was considerable. But any such word would have been a deceiving word “sent as a judgment on the compromising prophet and people alike (14:9).”
Duguid went on to apply this passage to modern times, saying that all of us who claim the name of Christ have divided hearts. Our outward appearance seems to “fit.” We appear to be decent, religious people; we go to church regularly. But when it comes to tough decisions, there are other standards operating than God’s Word. “We have deep-seated idolatries in our hearts that drive our various behavior patterns.”
Deep-Seated Idolatries
When trouble comes, we want the Lord to come to our aide. At the same time, we seek His help, we don’t want to give up our other options. “Ezekiel tells us that such an approach to God is not an option.” No one can serve two masters.
You cannot serve the true God and keep one foot in the camp of idolatry at the same time. God sees what we’re really like on the inside; we cannot hide the truth from him, and the double-minded person stands to receive nothing from God (James 1:7).
There are two counseling approaches with the church today, according to Duguid. There is a moralizing approach and a psychologizing approach. The moralizing approach says repent and change your behavior—do this and don’t do that. But it doesn’t go deep enough; it doesn’t recognize the idols and false beliefs that are driving it.
The psychologizing approach says you don’t see that God loves you and accepts you as you are. “If you could just feel good about yourself, right actions will follow.” Here, the focus is on feelings, not behavior. It also fails to see the idolatry behind the bad feelings. “Both approaches fail to see the sin, the fundamental issue of idolatry.”
A better approach is to recognize that both our feelings and behaviors are driven by deep-seated heart idolatries. “Our fundamental problem lies in looking to something besides God for our happiness.” This is not merely a modern realization. In “Idolatry,” Duguid said the church father Tertullian (155-220) said:
The principle crime of the human race, the highest guilt charged upon the world, the whole procuring cause of judgment, is idolatry. For, although each single fault retains its own proper feature, although it is destined to judgment under its own proper name also, yet it is marked off under the general account of idolatry. . . . Thus it comes to pass, that in idolatry all crimes are detected and all crimes idolatry.
Idolatry is the sin behind every sin. This fact was evident to Ezekiel, Tertullian, Ian Duguid, and Paul Tripp. There are as many different kinds of idolatry as there are human beings. To modernize a saying by John Calvin, our hearts are factories that mass-produce idols. In closing, I want to quote Paul Tripp in Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands:
If we fail to examine the heart and the areas where it needs to change, our ministry efforts will only result in people who are more committed and successful idolaters. This is why God will only answer the elders of Israel in keeping with their heart idolatry. If they do not change there, whatever God tells them will only be used to serve the idols that rule their hearts. We will even use the principles of the Word to serve our idols!
