Sin, Idolatry and Internalizing the Gospel

For the next two Sundays I’ll be preaching from Colossians 3:1-10. A large portion of this week's message will center upon understanding the concept of sin through the lens of idolatry. In conjunction with the biblical text, a great deal of my message (and certainly all of its underlying theology) is indebted to the writing and teaching of two men: Tim Keller (who many of you already know) and David Powlison (who is a bit less recognized). The two most helpful articles by these men are available online for free. Keller summarizes excellently his approach to communicating, understanding and engaging sin on page two of his essay:

Sin isn’t only doing bad things, it is more fundamentally making good things into ultimate things. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything, even a very good thing, more than on God. Whatever we build our life on will drive us and enslave us. Sin is primarily idolatry.

Here are the links to both articles:

Tim Keller, “Talking about Idolatry in a Postmodern Age”
David Powlison, “Idols of the Heart and ‘Vanity Fair’”