Who's Really on the Throne? Finding Freedom by Dethroning the "god of me"
Have you ever claimed to follow God with your lips while your actions tell a completely different story? I know I have—and I'm not just talking about before I became a pastor. I'm talking about this past week. We say we surrender to God, sing worship songs on Sunday, but by Monday morning, the "God of me" is back on the throne of our hearts. This internal battle for control might be the greatest obstacle to experiencing true freedom in Christ.
What Is True Freedom?
We're in week three of our "Run Wild, Live Free" series, and I'm convinced that in order to walk in true, lasting freedom, it's vital that you understand who you are in Christ. Culture will try to tell you who you are, but real freedom only comes when you recognize who Jesus says you are.
When I talk about identity, I'm talking about what existed in the mind and heart of God when He created you. That's your true identity.
So here's our definition for freedom: Freedom is the ability to act and react in life as the person I was created to be. It's responding to life's challenges without shame, guilt, or regret because you're reacting as Christ created you to react.
Two essential questions shape this freedom: What do I believe about God? And what do I believe about myself?
As A.W. Tozer wisely said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." But let me rephrase the question: Who is your God? Who do you serve?
Now, our instinct (especially here in the South) is to say, "My God is the one true God." But here's the truth—whether you consider yourself an atheist, agnostic, follower of Jesus, or somewhere in between: You are serving someone.
The Original Identity Crisis
This struggle isn't new. In Genesis 3:1-5, Satan's first tactic was getting Eve to question what God really said: "Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?"
Notice what the enemy does—he gets Eve to question God's word, and he's still doing it today. "Did He really mean that though? Come on, those are ancient writings." The enemy confused Eve enough that she began adding to what God said. She told the serpent that God said not to even touch the tree—but God never said that.
Then came the fatal temptation: "You will be like God." Think about this—Adam and Eve walked daily with the one true God in fellowship like we know nothing about, and yet somehow the enemy convinced them it wasn't enough. That God was holding out on them.
Every day we wake up and take a stroll down to the orchard. Every day the serpent is waiting there. Every day we must make a choice: Will I worship the one true God and find my freedom in Him, or will I worship the god of me and decide I can come up with a better plan for my life than what my Creator did?
Most of the time, we don't even realize we're making this choice. We've made the choice to serve the god of me so much that it becomes natural. Then we wonder why we can't completely break free—why we take two steps forward in our pursuit of freedom only to take ten steps backward.
Three Signs You're Serving the "god of me"
Let me give you three signs to look for. I've wrestled with all of them—not just before I became a pastor, but this past week. I'm not just preaching to you today; I'm preaching to myself.
1. Arrogance and Pride
The god of me has a hard time listening to the wisdom and advice of others. Why? Because the god of me says, "I'm always right. My way's the best way. I don't care what you think."
Be brutally honest with yourself: When was the last time you made one of these statements and meant it? "I was wrong and you were right." "I really should have listened to you." "I think your idea is better." "You're right, I shouldn't be doing this."
Even when we don't realize it, arrogance and pride are at play. When you cannot admit you're wrong, when someone else might have a better idea than yours, when you can't listen to counsel from people God put in your life—that's arrogance and pride.
In Ezekiel 28:2, God addressed the king of Tyre: "In the pride of your heart you say, 'I am a god; I sit on the throne of a God.'" We may not say that out loud, but our actions reveal we believe we're the ultimate authority in our lives.
2. Insecurity
This morning in prayer, I felt like God showed me something about insecurity. When you see young people posting pictures wearing next to nothing on social media, it's a sign of insecurity. Even celebrities and supermodels—it's insecurity. Because what the god of me is saying is, "I need you to tell me I look good. I need you to tell me how hot I am."
But let's make this hit home. The god of me is consumed with what others think. It needs to be included in every group text and tagged in every post. The god of me crumbles when you think, "So-and-so didn't even speak to me today. What's up with that?"
Some of you, your insecurity has already got you thinking I'm talking directly to you. Do you feel it? That's the god of me making a move toward your heart.
3. Defensiveness
Have you ever found yourself taking the slightest suggestion or small bit of criticism as a personal attack? Let me speak to married couples—it's very hard when your spouse says, "I think you ought to do something different" and not take it as a personal attack.
Years ago, Denise and I were counseling a couple whose finances were shot because they were being stupid with their money. When I suggested the wife handle their finances (since she was better with money), the husband got defensive: "Men are supposed to handle the money!" I replied, "Well, you're doing a crappy job at it." (I was three years into pastoring—I didn't know you could say it more politely!)
They left, and the next week they came back wearing concert T-shirts from a show they'd been to that weekend. That's when I knew the god of me had won—he was so defensive that he couldn't hear wisdom no matter who it was coming from.
Broken Cisterns vs. Living Water
This is really idol worship, even though we don't see it that way. Here's a great definition of an idol: Anything you put between you and God is an idol. That could even be good things.
The god of me has been the most relentless idol in my life. It's been the hardest idol for me to break free from—the God of my way, the God of "this is how I want it."
In Jeremiah 2:9-13, God brings two charges against His people: "They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
When you put yourself on the throne of your heart, you're digging your own wells that are broken and won't hold water—when God has a fresh, flowing stream right beside you.
Cisterns were important in that society because rain was infrequent. People would dig these wells, line them with bricks and mud, hoping they'd hold water. Sometimes they did, sometimes they leaked. But even the perfect ones that held water—if that water sat too long, it became stagnant and undrinkable.
When Jeremiah made this metaphor, people would have thought, "Who in their right mind would drink stagnant water when there's a fresh stream available?" Yet that's exactly what we do.
We turn to food, entertainment, careers, social media likes, money, relationships, or politics instead of looking to God. While these things aren't necessarily bad (God can use them for His purposes), the question is: Have they become broken cisterns in your life where you keep trying to fill them, thinking that's where your hope and joy come from, only to watch it leak out?
Some of you feel this way about your marriage—there was a time you were passionate, sure it would last forever. But you put your hope in your spouse and found yourself patching one leak after another.
Some of you feel this way about your kids. You had big dreams for them, but now you see the decisions they're making and wonder how you got here.
Some of you feel this way about your finances. You looked forward to paying off the house, retiring, but you've watched your savings leak out.
The Hostile Takeover Required
So what do we do? The only way to remove a king from its throne is through hostile takeover. When you study history and the Bible, when a new king conquered territory, the first thing they did was kill the old king and anyone loyal to him. Why? They didn't want it coming back to haunt them later.
If you really want to remove the god of me from the throne of your heart, it's going to require a hostile takeover. Killing the god of me will require the death of me.
In Luke 9:23, Jesus looks at the crowd and says, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me."
You want to serve the one true God? You've got to stop serving the god of me. You've got to give up your own way. Take up your cross—which represents death. You've got to die.
Paul understood this. In 1 Corinthians 15:31, he said, "I die daily." Every day he had to die. There are certain days that Pastor Kelly has to die not just daily, but hourly—sometimes minute by minute. Die to my pride, die to insecurity, die to defensiveness, die to anger, die to having things my way.
Jesus continues: "If you try to hang on to your own life, you're going to lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you'll save it."
C.S. Lewis put it this way: "Give up yourself and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death—death of your ambitions, favorite wishes every day... Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find him, and with him, everything else thrown in."
Keep drinking from that old, stagnant well, and all you're going to find is loneliness, anger, decay, and more chains keeping you bound. But look for Christ, and you'll find Him—and with Him, everything else.
Church, it is a really good day to die—to die to self so that Christ can live through us.
Next Steps:
The choice is before you every day: Will you serve the one true God, or will you bow to the God of me? True freedom is found in making the right choice, one day—sometimes one moment—at a time.
What Is True Freedom?
We're in week three of our "Run Wild, Live Free" series, and I'm convinced that in order to walk in true, lasting freedom, it's vital that you understand who you are in Christ. Culture will try to tell you who you are, but real freedom only comes when you recognize who Jesus says you are.
When I talk about identity, I'm talking about what existed in the mind and heart of God when He created you. That's your true identity.
So here's our definition for freedom: Freedom is the ability to act and react in life as the person I was created to be. It's responding to life's challenges without shame, guilt, or regret because you're reacting as Christ created you to react.
Two essential questions shape this freedom: What do I believe about God? And what do I believe about myself?
As A.W. Tozer wisely said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." But let me rephrase the question: Who is your God? Who do you serve?
Now, our instinct (especially here in the South) is to say, "My God is the one true God." But here's the truth—whether you consider yourself an atheist, agnostic, follower of Jesus, or somewhere in between: You are serving someone.
The Original Identity Crisis
This struggle isn't new. In Genesis 3:1-5, Satan's first tactic was getting Eve to question what God really said: "Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?"
Notice what the enemy does—he gets Eve to question God's word, and he's still doing it today. "Did He really mean that though? Come on, those are ancient writings." The enemy confused Eve enough that she began adding to what God said. She told the serpent that God said not to even touch the tree—but God never said that.
Then came the fatal temptation: "You will be like God." Think about this—Adam and Eve walked daily with the one true God in fellowship like we know nothing about, and yet somehow the enemy convinced them it wasn't enough. That God was holding out on them.
Every day we wake up and take a stroll down to the orchard. Every day the serpent is waiting there. Every day we must make a choice: Will I worship the one true God and find my freedom in Him, or will I worship the god of me and decide I can come up with a better plan for my life than what my Creator did?
Most of the time, we don't even realize we're making this choice. We've made the choice to serve the god of me so much that it becomes natural. Then we wonder why we can't completely break free—why we take two steps forward in our pursuit of freedom only to take ten steps backward.
Three Signs You're Serving the "god of me"
Let me give you three signs to look for. I've wrestled with all of them—not just before I became a pastor, but this past week. I'm not just preaching to you today; I'm preaching to myself.
1. Arrogance and Pride
The god of me has a hard time listening to the wisdom and advice of others. Why? Because the god of me says, "I'm always right. My way's the best way. I don't care what you think."
Be brutally honest with yourself: When was the last time you made one of these statements and meant it? "I was wrong and you were right." "I really should have listened to you." "I think your idea is better." "You're right, I shouldn't be doing this."
Even when we don't realize it, arrogance and pride are at play. When you cannot admit you're wrong, when someone else might have a better idea than yours, when you can't listen to counsel from people God put in your life—that's arrogance and pride.
In Ezekiel 28:2, God addressed the king of Tyre: "In the pride of your heart you say, 'I am a god; I sit on the throne of a God.'" We may not say that out loud, but our actions reveal we believe we're the ultimate authority in our lives.
2. Insecurity
This morning in prayer, I felt like God showed me something about insecurity. When you see young people posting pictures wearing next to nothing on social media, it's a sign of insecurity. Even celebrities and supermodels—it's insecurity. Because what the god of me is saying is, "I need you to tell me I look good. I need you to tell me how hot I am."
But let's make this hit home. The god of me is consumed with what others think. It needs to be included in every group text and tagged in every post. The god of me crumbles when you think, "So-and-so didn't even speak to me today. What's up with that?"
Some of you, your insecurity has already got you thinking I'm talking directly to you. Do you feel it? That's the god of me making a move toward your heart.
3. Defensiveness
Have you ever found yourself taking the slightest suggestion or small bit of criticism as a personal attack? Let me speak to married couples—it's very hard when your spouse says, "I think you ought to do something different" and not take it as a personal attack.
Years ago, Denise and I were counseling a couple whose finances were shot because they were being stupid with their money. When I suggested the wife handle their finances (since she was better with money), the husband got defensive: "Men are supposed to handle the money!" I replied, "Well, you're doing a crappy job at it." (I was three years into pastoring—I didn't know you could say it more politely!)
They left, and the next week they came back wearing concert T-shirts from a show they'd been to that weekend. That's when I knew the god of me had won—he was so defensive that he couldn't hear wisdom no matter who it was coming from.
Broken Cisterns vs. Living Water
This is really idol worship, even though we don't see it that way. Here's a great definition of an idol: Anything you put between you and God is an idol. That could even be good things.
The god of me has been the most relentless idol in my life. It's been the hardest idol for me to break free from—the God of my way, the God of "this is how I want it."
In Jeremiah 2:9-13, God brings two charges against His people: "They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
When you put yourself on the throne of your heart, you're digging your own wells that are broken and won't hold water—when God has a fresh, flowing stream right beside you.
Cisterns were important in that society because rain was infrequent. People would dig these wells, line them with bricks and mud, hoping they'd hold water. Sometimes they did, sometimes they leaked. But even the perfect ones that held water—if that water sat too long, it became stagnant and undrinkable.
When Jeremiah made this metaphor, people would have thought, "Who in their right mind would drink stagnant water when there's a fresh stream available?" Yet that's exactly what we do.
We turn to food, entertainment, careers, social media likes, money, relationships, or politics instead of looking to God. While these things aren't necessarily bad (God can use them for His purposes), the question is: Have they become broken cisterns in your life where you keep trying to fill them, thinking that's where your hope and joy come from, only to watch it leak out?
Some of you feel this way about your marriage—there was a time you were passionate, sure it would last forever. But you put your hope in your spouse and found yourself patching one leak after another.
Some of you feel this way about your kids. You had big dreams for them, but now you see the decisions they're making and wonder how you got here.
Some of you feel this way about your finances. You looked forward to paying off the house, retiring, but you've watched your savings leak out.
The Hostile Takeover Required
So what do we do? The only way to remove a king from its throne is through hostile takeover. When you study history and the Bible, when a new king conquered territory, the first thing they did was kill the old king and anyone loyal to him. Why? They didn't want it coming back to haunt them later.
If you really want to remove the god of me from the throne of your heart, it's going to require a hostile takeover. Killing the god of me will require the death of me.
In Luke 9:23, Jesus looks at the crowd and says, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me."
You want to serve the one true God? You've got to stop serving the god of me. You've got to give up your own way. Take up your cross—which represents death. You've got to die.
Paul understood this. In 1 Corinthians 15:31, he said, "I die daily." Every day he had to die. There are certain days that Pastor Kelly has to die not just daily, but hourly—sometimes minute by minute. Die to my pride, die to insecurity, die to defensiveness, die to anger, die to having things my way.
Jesus continues: "If you try to hang on to your own life, you're going to lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you'll save it."
C.S. Lewis put it this way: "Give up yourself and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death—death of your ambitions, favorite wishes every day... Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find him, and with him, everything else thrown in."
Keep drinking from that old, stagnant well, and all you're going to find is loneliness, anger, decay, and more chains keeping you bound. But look for Christ, and you'll find Him—and with Him, everything else.
Church, it is a really good day to die—to die to self so that Christ can live through us.
Next Steps:
- Identify which of the three signs (pride, insecurity, defensiveness) is most prevalent in your life
- Ask trusted friends to hold you accountable when they see the "god of me" taking over
- Practice daily surrender through prayer, acknowledging areas where you're trying to control your life
- Replace broken cisterns with God's living water by spending time in His Word
The choice is before you every day: Will you serve the one true God, or will you bow to the God of me? True freedom is found in making the right choice, one day—sometimes one moment—at a time.
Posted in Freedom, Identity in Christ, Spiritual Growth
Posted in RunWildLiveFree, freedom, identity, SpiritualGrowth, surrender, livingwater
Posted in RunWildLiveFree, freedom, identity, SpiritualGrowth, surrender, livingwater
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