Welcome to Sunday Fuel! This series of questions is designed to assist your personal reflection and fellowship with others about the sermon from this past Sunday.

Go to This Sunday’s Sermon

1. Identify a particular area of stress or anxiety in your life. If stress is a pervasive issue in your life pick one specific area to focus on. 

It is in these areas God is lovingly inviting you to probe deeper into understanding the idols underneath your anxiety that threaten your worship. Take some time to ask Him to trust this challenging process is his way of loving you and helping you live for him, which is always better than our own way. 

2. Reflect on this quote from Robert Jones: “Worry expresses idolatry in the heart. Your worry is a sign that in some way you are trusting in yourself, that you are building your life on things or people other than Jesus. Your anxiety is an automatic indicator of a heart that is not fully following the Lord but is temporarily following something else.” 

• Can you rephrase the anxiety you identified in question 1 in terms of idolatry? What is the “glass statue” you are trying to protect? Remember: they don’t have to be bad things. They can simply be good things we want too much or for the wrong reasons, instead of God. 
• What lies are they promising, such as help, comfort, security, joy, etc.? How are you fueling these idols in your thoughts and actions? 
• If you find this difficult to do, are there some ways you are seeking to justify or excuse your worry? 

3. We might not be able to change our worries but we can change our worship. If idolatry is at the heart of our worry, then this is sin we must repent. This is possible because Christ died for us that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him (2 Cor. 5:15). Just as we turned to Christ for eternal life, so we must turn to the same gospel and Savior for our everyday lives, when we recognize the idolatry in our hearts. We do this in rhythm—repentance, then faith. 

Pastor Kim points out we must know our God to confess our sin. Read Matthew 6:25-34 and list the truths about God. Use these truths to help you turn to your Savior in repentance. Consider these as examples for your own confession: 

• Matthew 6:24-25 – “Lord, in my stress I am worshiping some idol instead of you.”
• Matthew 6:26 – “Lord, in my stress I am questioning your love and care.”
• Matthew 6:30 – “Lord, in my stress I am telling you that you are not worthy of my trust.”
• Matthew 6:32 – “Lord, in my stress I am questioning your wisdom and knowledge.”
• Matthew 6:31-32 – “Lord, in my stress I am living like an unbeliever.”

Take some time to bring your anxieties to the Savior who loves you in repentance, confessing the particular ways your specific stress is a form of idol worship.