“Make It All About Success”
Scott Scruggs

God, You are great, and we need to know that's true today. We bring fear, doubt, struggle, sin, chaos into this place in our lives, and we want to hear from You. So Holy Spirit, I pray that You would speak to each heart in this room, including my own, about Your goodness and Your grace and Your truth as we dig into Your Word. Thank You God for speaking to us, and we pray this in Your Son's name, Amen.

Well we're in this series called…How to Wreck Your Life. It's really a conversation about idols, counterfeit gods, and God substitutes…those things that keep us from becoming the people that God wants us to be. This weekend we are talking about the idol of success…the idol of success. It got me thinking a little bit about my own life, so this week, I just took a pen and some paper, and I just wrote down a few thoughts about what I hope to accomplish in my own life, what I hope to have in my own life.

Here is some of what I wrote. I want to have a good job, and a good career. I want to have good friendships, and good community. I want to serve God. That's the reason I got into ministry in the first place. I want to serve God, and I want to see lives be blessed and be transformed because of it. Maybe on a lighter note, I also wrote I want to enjoy life. That's right, even pastors want to have a little fun here and there. I want to experience love and intimacy with a wonderful woman someday in marriage, though for now I've found this amazing substitute, and her name is TiVo. I love TiVo. Choir loves TiVo.

There was another thought that came to mind, a thought that is deeply rooted and is firmly fixed in my heart as anything else. I want to be successful. I want to succeed. I want to do well. I want to achieve and accomplish great things with my life. Equally important, I want you to think that I'm successful. I'm not satisfied going home today thinking to myself, Wow, Scotty, that was a fine sermon. Well done. I want you to go home thinking to yourself, Wow, Scotty, that was a fine sermon. Well done. I think we should just practice really quickly, just say with me, "Well done, Scotty." Gosh, you guys should just go with me wherever I go. That was fantastic!

Deep inside every human heart, there is this longing, this desire to succeed, to do well, to make something of our life, to make a difference in the world. It's a God-given part of what it means to be a human being. This is God's idea. Listen to what God said when He created the first human beings. "Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness." We are to be God-like. "God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves along the ground."

In other words, you are here not to be irrelevant, not to be on the sidelines, not to sit back and watch life happen and someone else live it, you are here to exercise God's creative rule over the earth, to be fruitful, to raise families, to make communities, to build cities, to lead societies, to shape cultures. You are here to steward your unique gifts and your passions in a way that makes a God-shaped difference in our world. That's success. Each one of us is made for it.

We find incredible stories of this God-shaped success throughout our Scriptures. Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Esther stood up to an all-powerful king. David defeated a Philistine giant. Human beings, indeed, were created to do great things, and it's still true today. It's still true today.

As you know last week, an earthquake hit the country of Haiti and the devastation has been almost unimaginable. I mean, just unthinkable. Yet, as aid and relief has poured in, there are these glimpses of hope that reveal what people are so great at doing. Take a look at this photograph, if you will. Some of you may have seen this. It's a little boy named Kiki, seven years old. Kiki was trapped under concrete and rubble for eight days, but people did not give up. People did not lose hope. People were living out that difference-maker DNA that God has hard wired into each and every one of us.

You were made to do something great with your life, but for many of us, if not all of us in this room, there is something else going on deep in our heart that goes well beyond the desire just to do well or to make a difference. Each one of us has been corrupted by what the Bible calls sin, this toxic mixture of greed and fear and the desire for power and glory for ourselves. What was created to be a righteous longing to use our passions and make a difference in God's kingdom is not this compulsive desire to build up our own with our names stamped on top. Scotty's kingdom, that's what I want. I want to have the best job, and the best title, and the best reputation. I want the best house, and the best family, and the most successful children. It doesn't even matter how I get there, or so it would go in our culture today.

Recently, I read an article that documented the growing prevalence of cheating in graduate programs across the country, particularly among business school students. Get this…they describe cheating not as necessary to pass their courses, but as good practice for making it in the professional world. One MBA student said this, "All I'm doing is emulating the behavior I'll need when I get out in the real world." This is what you need to make it. This is what you need to succeed. This is how you get there.

There is an old saying in the world of sports, "It's not whether you win, it is how you play the game." Well in the real world today, just the opposite is true. It's not how you play the game; it is simple whether or not you win. It's true in almost every corner of our society, except for maybe the 9ers, but we'll just leave that aside. It's true all over the place. We see it in all corners of our world. So what do we do? How do we respond? Well we have to win no matter what, and so we lie, we cheat, we backstab, we gossip, we overwork, we overstress, we overmedicate, all for that next step on the ladder we're climbing and to fend off the people who might get in our way. It happens in our jobs, in our schools, in our homes.

Why? Because success, achievement, personal gain and glory has become an idol, a counterfeit god, a God-substitute. So for the rest of our time together, I want to ask two questions with you about this. First, I want to ask…What are the signs that success has become an idol in our lives? What are the signs? How would we know? The second question I want to ask is…What would Jesus want to say to those of us who have made success our idol? What would Jesus want to say about that?

Well you know there are a number of signs. There are a number of red flags, if you will, that success or achievement has become more than just a good thing, more than just something God might want for us, but an idol in our lives. The scariest thing to me about these signs is how prevalent they are. As we go forward, these are going to sound totally commonplace, no surprises. Let me just name a few. One sign is this…people with a success idol will struggle with a relentless sense of inadequacy…a relentless sense of inadequacy.

Some time ago, a friend of mine was looking for a job, and he was being rejected by one company after another to the point that he started to lose confidence that he would ever find work. So after the most recent rejection letter, he sort of took matters into his own hands, and he wrote that company the following letter.

Let me read it to you, "To whom it may concern, thank you for your recent letter. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me employment with your firm. This year, I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals. Despite your company's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find your rejection does not meet with my needs at this time. Therefore, I will initiate employment with your firm immediately. I look forward to working with you. Best of luck rejecting future candidates. Sincerely, Scotty Scruggs."

Now I didn't actually write that letter, but I think it captures how desperate we can feel, how desperate we can be to avoid feeling like we're inadequate, like we don't have what it takes, like someone else is always going to be better and more successful than me. The spiritual dynamic, it goes something like this. We all have this inner fear, this thought inside, that we are a nobody. Somehow in the mixture of all the people out there, I'm actually a nobody, but we all have this desire inside, this longing, I think this God-given wiring to be somebody.

I don't know where I want to go in life exactly, or what I want to do, but I want to be somebody. The success idol will tell you that the only way to get from nobody to somebody, the only way to move from being or feeling insignificant to being significant is to achieve more, to gain more, to have more, to accomplish more. But let me ask you this question, church. Where in the Bible does it say that being successful is what makes you significant? Chapter and verse, I want to know where in the Bible it says that.

See the truth is it doesn't. It doesn't say it, assume it, even imply it. Psalm 139 says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God declares in our very being the fact that we're here is that we're somebody. We matter. We are loved, treasured, valued, which means no one is a nobody, and even more importantly this means success idol is lying to you. The success idol is lying to you. Personal accomplishments and achievements, yes, they are good things, but they don't have the power to make you significant. Only God has that power, and God gives it freely.

When we get caught up in that idol, when we get caught up on the roller coaster of trying to move from nobody to somebody, we always feel like we're here, maybe never here. Those people who think they're here, are always worried that they're actually here. Years ago the pop music icon Madonna had this to say about what was driving her career in music. Listen to her words. She said, "I have an iron will, and all of my will has always been to conquer some horrible feeling of inadequacy. I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being, and then I get to another stage and think I'm mediocre and uninteresting again and again. My drive in life is from this horrible fear of being mediocre, being nobody."

Isn't it interesting, isn't it tragic even that one of the most successful people according to our world standards, one of the most successful people on the planet is still trying to use resume reputation, the idol of success to bridge the gap between nobody and somebody. But guess what? It does not work. It doesn't work. Yet, we get caught up in the same lie, don't we? We get caught up believing the same thing, don't we? We start to believe, if I'm seen as successful in my work, if I get the title, if I get the home, if I get the success, and people can say "You're a great success," I won't feel inadequate. I won't have fear. I won't have self-doubt. I'll be somebody. Yet on the way up the ladder, what do we accrue but only more pressure and fear and anxiety and even self-doubt.

I was just reading an article recently about a recovery group in Houston for CEOs who gather around a circle and process their pain. The most successful people on the planet experiencing pain and self-doubt, absolutely, because the idol of success is lying. It does not make you somebody. A second sign is this: People with a success idol are obsessed with personal achievement…obsessed with personal achievement.

I recently read some quite inappropriate comments that some teachers made on report cards of students who were doing poorly in their classes. Listen to what some of these teachers actually wrote down. One said this, "Since my last report, your child has reached rock bottom and has started to dig." Another wrote this, "Your child has delusions of adequacy." Whoa! Perhaps the most outlandish one was this, "The wheel is turning, but the hamster is definitely dead." I mean it's like this amazing mix of creativity and just meanness.

Now I don't know if those are real. I certainly hope not, and if they are, I'm sure those teachers had some fairly similar comments on their performance reviews. But this got me thinking about how consumed we can be with what's on our report card, what's on our resume, what's on our social reputation. We find ourselves asking the question... How are you doing at work? What's your job title? How much money do you make? Have you been promoted recently? Are you gaining popularity and respect among your peers? How are you doing at home? Are you living in a bigger home than you used to? Do you live in the right house in the right neighborhood? Do your kids go to the right school? Are they performing in a superior way to your friend's kids?

The answer to these questions on the report card is always, "Never good enough." Someone is always doing a little better, at least according to the idol of success. Now again, I'm not saying these achievements are bad things. They can be great things. We all need teachers and coaches and mentors to help us grow and challenge us and help us reach our God-given potential. Absolutely. But the success idol will tell you, "If you're not building up your resume, if you're not growing up your reputation among your peers, your life is actually on the decline. You are actually moving from worth something to being worth less." The result is we become driven to achieve more, gain more, accomplish more, and we can't see anything else to the point that we become achievement addicts…achievement addicts.

A counselor named Mary Bell went so far as to say, "Achievement is the alcohol of our time." If that's true, then Silicon Valley is like the biggest keg party on the planet. But like any kind of addiction, the achievement addiction always takes more from you than it gives. It always takes more from you than it gives. The marriage you put on the sidelines, the kids you don't have time for, the friends you never see, the God you hardly know anymore, how much more are you going to lose to gain just an inch? How much more of what really counts in your life will you sacrifice at the idol of just a little more success?

Jesus put it this way, and I'd like us just to read this aloud together. "What good is it if you gain the whole world, and yet forfeit your soul?" Let's read that again. "What good is it if you gain the whole world, and yet forfeit your soul?" Say it one more time. "What good is it if you gain the whole world, and yet forfeit your soul?" Now I know it's a rhetorical question, but the answer should be obvious. It does you no good. It does you no good, but our obsession with achievement and gain for the sake of personal glory so that we might have the whole world in our own hands is just another sign that success has become an idol.

A third sign that success may be an idol in your life is this, you find yourself coveting rather than celebrating the successes of others. You find yourself coveting and being envious and being jealous of the successes of others rather than being free to celebrate them.

I recently heard a story about a young man named Brad who finally worked up the nerve to propose to his girlfriend. He said, "Sweetheart, I know I'm not wealthy like Tom, or handsome like Tom, or as well-educated as Tom, but I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." His girlfriend said, "I love you, too, Brad, but I'd really like to hear more about this Tom." Ever find yourself envious of the Toms of the world? Ever find yourself envious of those who seem to have more and achieve more and get more and accomplish more? All you think you need, all you want is what they have.

Israel's first king was a man named Saul. Many of you know the story of Saul. He struggled deeply with this very thing in his life. You see there was a young leader in his life, in his court, named David. David was anointed to be the next king of Israel, and David had incredible success early on in his career, but rather than cheering David on, Saul became jealous. First Samuel 18:8, says this, "Saul was very angry; this refrain [the songs they sang about David] displeased him greatly. 'They have credited David with tens of thousands,' he thought, 'but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?'"

In other words, what more can he get but my kingdom, what belongs to me, what I want, what I deserve, what I need to be a success? See for King Saul, being king, being at the top of the ladder, the top of his field, the top of his class. That was the idol. That was what mattered most, which meant David's success wasn't a good thing. It was a threat. When you make success an idol, the successes of others will always a feel a little bit like a threat to you.

Saul became so obsessed with stopping David he eventually lost everything. We get caught up in the same pattern of envy and anger. That colleague at work who got the promotion before you, and you're smiling on the outside, but inside, you're mad. Or that friend whose kids get better grades in school than yours, and you're smiling on the outside, but inside, you're jealous. It not only hurts you and your relationship with others as it did with Saul, it's another sign that success may have become not a good thing, not a gift from God, but an idol.

These feelings of inadequacy and obsession with personal achievement and coveting the successes of others, these are some of the signs that success has become that which gives you worth, hope and value that has been a substitute for God, trying to provide what only God can provide. If you're there, if that's you, if you're feeling that pinch of conviction on your heart around this as I have this week, it is time to make a change.

I just want to say in this part of the world, and this time in history, there may be no greater threat to the gospel of the kingdom of God than how we get caught up in this idol of success. I mean it might be easy to learn to give more and toss aside a little money, or refrain ourselves from pleasure or promiscuity, or maybe give up some power and serve, but to be willing to risk our success and our name, our own kingdom, are you willing to do that? I know when I look at my own heart, it is so easy every day I get up in the morning to be more concerned with what happens to me and where I go and what I get and what people think than anything else. I think the Holy Spirit has something to say to each one of us about this.

Even more importantly, I think Jesus has something to say to you now about this. Jesus lived and taught a very different understanding of success. It wasn't, "Don't work hard, or don't try to be effective." Jesus loved seeing His disciples succeed and do well and make a difference. He once told His disciples, "You will do even greater things than I did," and He meant it because He knew that people are made by God to do great things.

It leads to the question… What would Jesus say then to people who find themselves serving the idol of success? What would Jesus want to say to those of us who are serving the idol of a successful resume or reputation?

Well the first thing I think Jesus would say is this, "Remember that your worth is in no way based on your achievements. Remember that your worth is in not based on your achievements." I just want to stop there and let you try to soak that in for a second and maybe just exhale out. Thank you. You know you are not any more or less valuable to God because of your job title, your tax bracket, your social status, and even if you lose your job, even if you're struggling in your family, even if you make a mistake, even if you fail and you're living through the consequences, God's affection for you does not waver. Your value in His eyes does not decline. There are no crashed or recessions with the love of God. Yes, you are made to do great things, and it's wonderful to work hard. It's a blessing to use our gifts, but your worth, your worth is not based on your achievements. It's in God. It is secure in that.

Another thing I think Jesus would say to people with a success idol is this, "Be faithful with what you've already been given. Be faithful with what God has already given you to be a steward of." Ever hear the phrase, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence?" The idol of success always tempts us to look over the fence, to look to the next field, to look to the next opportunity as if our success and dreams and wishes are always one step away, what we might be, what we might have, what we might do. Jesus calls us to be faithful stewards of what we have been given today.

I have an old friend who has one of the most brilliant minds I have even known. She finished her PhD, was well on her way to a prominent career in academia, when she had a child, a little girl who was born with a severe developmental disability, and everything changed. The time and space in her life to write, teach and speak and publish, the time for her to go and make a name for herself, it vanished as she spent every waking hour caring for that little girl. With each passing week, month, and year, those dreams of academic fame and fortune sort of faded into the realm of what could have been.

She and I got the chance to catch up not too long ago, and she said some words that I will never, ever forget. She said, "You know I have a much smaller life than I thought I would, but I have a much better life than I thought I would. You see I have this precious little girl, this amazing gift, and this little girl has blessed me more than anything I thought could ever bless me."

See the truth is we've all been given stewardship of something or someone. It could be a spouse or a child, or a job or a place you serve or even a difficult situation. There is going to be a moment, there is going to be a moment where you get to choose where you have to choose…am I willing to be faithful, forget about the other side of the fence, forget about where the grass may be greener? Am I willing to be faithful to what God has called me to today even if it means I may not be as much of a success as the world would have me be? Because to borrow the words of Mother Teresa, "God has not called you to success, He's called you to be faithful with whatever you have been given, whatever is on your plate, whatever you have in your life."

It leads to a third word I think Jesus would say to those who are seeking to be faithful, who are seeking to trust in Him, who are seeking first His kingdom instead of trying to build up their own with their names stamped on it. Jesus wants you to hear the two most important words you will ever hear, the two words your Heavenly Father is so longing to say to you now, "Well done. Well done. Well done, My good and faithful servant."

To the parents giving their all to raise their kids, "Well done." To the teenagers facing ridicule for the sake of their character, "Well done." To those in the workplace trying to put their integrity above their income, "Well done." You see it's not that we don't need to hear these words of affirmation; it's just that we only really need to hear them from one source, and it's our God. It is the words He longs for you to hear now, to where you've been faithful, "Well done."

I was recently at a wedding where a father officiated the ceremony of this wedding for his own son. He opened with this great line. He said to the young couple, "You two are in way over your heads." As a pastor I thought to myself, That's kind of a bummer way to start your son's wedding, but hey, you know, your deal. I imagine that young groom was feeling all the pressure in the world on his shoulders to be a good man, a good husband, a success from this day forward. He's standing before his very own father, for heaven's sake. Can you imagine?

Then this father turned to his son, and he said, "But all I really want you to know about your life going forward is this, that you are my son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased." You are my son whom I love. We are all in way over our heads…all of us. Whether you make dinner or billion dollar deals for a living, we are all desperately trying to find our way from nobody to somebody, but you are here today, standing before your Father in heaven, and all He wants you to know about your life going forward is this, you are His daughter. You are His son whom He loves. Your faith and your hope and your sacrifices and your life, they make your Father in heaven proud. You make your Father in heaven proud. Do you know that?

Which means you can let it go. You can let the idol of success and achievement and acclaim and personal glory, you can let it go, and you can receive God's love for you just as you are, and seek today to be faithful to what He has put in your life no matter where it leads. You can trust and be confident that He will use your life to make the world more like He wants it to be, if you will but let Him…if you will but let Him.

Let's pray together: Jesus, how we need to hear those words, not just today but every day because we are all in way over our heads. We are all out desperately trying to make our life into something, to be someone because You have called us and made us and created us to do great things. So we pray that You would free us from this idol called success at all costs. That You would open our hearts to the ways that You are using us even now to change the world into the world You want it to be. Help us hear those words that we need to hear from You…that we are somebody because we are Your daughters and sons whom You love, and that because of who You are and what You're doing in us, somehow in some miraculous way, we make You proud. Help us live in that freedom as we go faithfully this week, and we pray this in Your name, Amen.