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CHRIST-CENTERED BIBLE STUDY

Lesson 3: Uncovering the Sin beneath the Sin

Big Idea: To hear the music of the gospel, we need to take a deeper look at our sin.

If we don’t reflect on our sin, our need for a Savior and let it point us to the beauty of who Christ is—and what He has done—we miss out of the fullness of the music of the gospel.

Idolatry is a common sin with which we all struggle.

However, when we think of idolatry, particularly in the Bible, we picture it in terms of bowing down to some kind of carved statue.

But just because we haven’t worshiped a statue of Zeus or the Statue of Liberty doesn’t mean we’re innocent of idolatry.

 

An idol can be anything we believe we need, apart
from Christ, to fulfill us.

 

By this definition, we all dabble more than a little in idolatry.

We serve, love, desire, trust, fear and worship other things apart from God to give us love, joy, peace, freedom, status, identity, control, happiness, security, fulfillment, health, pleasure, significance, acceptance and respect. Sometimes our idols are obviously wrong. However, the things we desire are often good in themselves … Even good things become idols when they start to rule our lives. - Neil H. Williams, “Gospel Transformation.”

Idols offer a counterfeit to aspects of God’s identity and character. They represent broken cisterns for which we trade fountains of living water.

As a result, we shouldn’t think about idolatry as one sin among others but rather as a root sin that expresses itself in a variety of ways.

If idolatry is a root sin, the fruits of that sin—the “fruit sins”—are the things you look to apart from God in order to find identity, security and hope.

For example, if my idol is the love of money, my fruit sins might be greed and a lack of generosity.

Reflect

Respond

What are some idols in your life?

What are some ways those idols bear fruit—express themselves—in your life?

Fruit Versus Root: Anger Versus Control

CON0705_Root-Sin

Take a Step

Based on this lesson, take some time to pray and write down the fruit sins and the root sins you recognize as struggles in your life.

What's Next: 

In our next lesson, we learn another important question to ask when reading Scripture to help us hear the music of the gospel.