Now that’s funny I don’t care who you are. Hey, isn’t it great to be able to laugh in church? Yeah. Life is hard and laughter is good. Most of us don’t laugh enough, most church people don’t laugh enough. One of the things that I love the most in this place that we call DCC is the fact that we are able to laugh a lot and have fun together as we chase down this better way to live that we all came in here chasing. I also love that fact that I am standing today in the midst of a sea of Orange. Go Broncos! I’m with you, see, I just can’t wear orange, it clashes with my hair. So I’m excited about a lot of things today, the party I get to go to today, the Superbowl late this afternoon but most of all I’m excited that you are here, especially if you are new.
If that’s you we really think that is important that you know that you we are not people who used to be like you, put up with people like you, of fix people like you, we are people just like you. What that means is this. If you have made mistakes, hurt people, been hurt by people, have parts of your life and story you wish you could change, erase or do-over, if you aren’t perfect, if you have a jacked up story, if you love the Broncos, me too. If you don’t love the Broncos what is wrong with you? Seriously, we say “me too” all the time in this place. All of your story is safe and welcome here regardless of how it reads and you belong with us regardless of what you believe. Hope that is more than just a bunch of words. We hope you feel that, experience that, and walk away from here today believing that it is true. Thank you for taking a chance on us this Superbowl Sunday, and thanks to all of our friends who are tuning in to watch us online before you watch the Superbowl too.
So we are jumping back into this series that we are in called Ransomed Heart today, a series that I believe is one of the most, if not the most important series that we have ever done in my almost 8 years here at DCC and I love the way that you are embracing it and wrestling through what we are talking about every single week. So way to go, stay in it. If you haven’t been with us we are talking about how all of us, even with those of us that have done this church thing for all or most of our lives still encounter a voice that continues to suggest that something is still missing in the midst of this thing we do called church, religion, this thing we do called life. There is something more, we were made for something more and deep inside we know it. So what do we do with that? That’s what we are after in this series…how do we learn to find this something more?
So we’ve talked about the importance of our invisible lives, the heart of a man, the heart of a woman, and last week we talked about how a part of this journey requires us to have a clear understanding of this larger story that we all find ourselves living in. Today we need to get more personal and spend some time talking about the story within that story. We need to talk about your story and mine. While the preview to the movie Identity Thief is pretty funny, the reality of that happening, our identity being stolen is not very funny at all. It is a serious problem in the world we live in. I was reading this week that there is a new victim about every 2 seconds and that has been the number one consumer complaint now for 15 straight years. The phrase “identity theft” may not have been made official until 1964, identity theft has been going on since the very beginning of time. It is keeping us from the life that we are looking for and that’s why we need to jump back into this and talk about that. So here we go.
If you have a Bible we are ultimately going to be in Luke chapter 15 today. If you don’t have a Bible we would love to give you one. They are back on the back tables that you can grab right now if you would like if you close or on you can always grab one on your way out. As always you can hit our app or the You Version app too. Or you can ignore all of that and read along with me on the screens. Luke chapter 15 beginning with verse 11…
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
Okay, so let’s start with a question. Is the son here being disobedient to his father? No. This wasn’t at all uncommon in that day under Jewish law, not only could a son ask for his inheritance early, he could legally sell it too. So no disobedience here, disrespect…maybe, he may have been very respectful with this request we don’t get enough of the conversation to really know. Here’s what we do know. He asks for the money, takes it, leaves, and blows every single bit of it in wild living. Question…is the desire behind his request here evil? Can we really be sure of that? No. Was squandering his initial plan? That makes no sense. Couldn’t he have had a desire to jump out of the nest, not be a burden or be dependant on his father, to make something of himself out from under the wing and protection of his father? Yes. Anything wrong with that desire? No. Here is what I am getting to…
DESIRE IS NOT A BAD THING. There is no question that desire can lead us all down bad paths, it has, we all can point to moments in our lives and stories where that was true. But are the desires of our heart bad things? Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart is deceitful above all things who can understand it. So it would seem like Bad heart=Bad desire. Not so fast. In Ezekiel 36:26 God promises to give us a new heart and put a new spirit in us to remove our hearts of stone. Gives you something to study and wrestle with this week. Have you ever had an experience that made you feel like your heart’s desire was a bad thing?
ILLUST> So I learned to repair watches in high school and took a job right out of school so that Stacy and I could save money to get married. It didn’t take long for me to grow tired of staring at tiny watch parts for 9 hours a day with no real interaction with people. I had far greater dreams for my life than that. Stacy and I decided that I would enroll in college and head out to Officer Candidate School in the Marine Corps in pursuit of my dream of being a Marine Corps Officer. I will never forget telling my dad of my decision. I could take you back to the exact place we were standing in the dining room. I told my dad what I was going to do expecting him to be proud of me. My dad was taken out of high school to fight in the Patton’s 3rd Army in WWII and loved the Marine Corps. His response shocked me. He said son why in the world would you do that son, you have a good trade as a watchmaker? I had a good job and he expected me to stick with it. I had a decision to make…please my dad…or follow my heart…my desire. It was hard because all of a sudden this desire that I had felt like a bad thing. Was it? No. It certainly felt that way. Have you ever had an experience like that?
I think we have all been there at some point in our lives. We wrestle with our desires and we don’t really talk much about desire in the church. Think about it, we never really have. When we read and understand the religious world that Jesus was born into we see that the religious of his day were practicing a very soul killing spirituality, a lifeless religion that was all about duty and obligation. They had abandoned desire and replaced it with knowledge and performance as the key to life. We have followed suit. There was no life in it then. There still isn’t. In fact, over time it kills our souls.
So what has happened to the dreams and desires of our hearts? We have abandoned them. I am convinced that we don’t dream enough as followers of Jesus. Churches don’t dream big dreams either. We don’t desire, we simply try to survive. One of the things that I love the most about the 50 or so core people who are still here at DCC who were here when I arrived 8 years ago is that despite all the challenges and hardships along the way they never let go of their dream that God wanted to do big things through Discovery Church. They held on to desire. What has happened to the desires of our hearts. Unfortunately, I think we have concluded that all our desires really do is get us into trouble, so the only answer is to ignore, abandon, dismiss or even kill or destroy them. That’s not God’s plan.
ILLUST> One of the most painful conversations I have ever had in my life came about 2 months after I crashed and burned in ministry over a decade ago now. If you don’t know my story it’s brutal. I had an affair as a pastor and resigned from the church I was leading. Stacy my wife stayed with me, she’s the hero of the story. When that happened my dad had passed away a few years before and that the thought of telling my widowed mom killed me. I couldn’t do it. I don’t know how she didn’t find out but she didn’t until she read a letter that I had written here. She immediately called me. After asking if Stacy and the girls were okay she said something that I will never forget. You should have never been on the stage, in the spotlight, or an upfront leader in the first place, you can’t handle that. My desire for that was wrong, it was bad, it was misplaced. That was years ago, she didn’t intend to hurt me, she is proud of me today, but the only thing I heard in that moment was that my desire was bad and should be destroyed. God wasn’t in that.
The last thing our enemy wants is for us to step into and live out of the desires of our hearts, he sees who we could become and fears that. If he can’t kill it, he will attempt to seduce it, divert it, and trap it somewhere where it will never be set free in addictions like food, work, sex, alcohol, drugs, pornography. Why? Because he knows that if desire is unleashed in our lives it will lead us directly to God, the life he has for us, and the into the difference that he created us to make in the world around us. I love what John Eldredge says in his book Desire, you have to read it, our desire reveals our design and our design reveals our destiny. The invitation of Jesus is for us to be people of passion who don’t ignore or destroy but learn to live out of the deep desires of our heart. What have we done with the deep desires of our hearts? So things are not looking good for the son, let’s keep reading…
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5 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
Do you see what has happened here? Did he make some big mistakes? Yes he did, he blew all of his father’s money in wild living. He is willing to admit that he has sinned against heaven and against his father which is a good thing, the confession and repentance here is good, it’s healthy. It is the next leap that he takes here that is not. He is not only sorry for what he has done he has reached the conclusion that he is no longer a son, in his mind his identity itself has changed, the work a very accomplished identity thief. Here’s the point…
YOU ARE NOT DEFINED BY WHAT YOU’VE DONE OR WHAT’S BEEN DONE. This is not just about what you have done squandering money, now your identity as a son, how your father sees you has changed too. It doesn’t matter what you want, it doesn’t matter what you desire, it doesn’t matter what dreams you have for your life this now defines you. Have you ever done something in your life, made a huge mistake, derailed your own life or the life of others that left you in a place where you dreams and desires just didn’t seem to matter anymore? You feel like you have lost your place and have reached the point of no return. Me too, I have been there.
This is why that song that we just sang is so important. Jesus paid it all, sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. What Jesus did for us on the cross covers us, our identity in Christ remains, nothing separates us from the love of Christ and we don’t lose our status as beloved sons and daughters. We are not defined by the things we have done because of the blood of Jesus. I think that is why Jesus is telling this story. But there is another problematic part of this thing isn’t there? What about the things that have been done to us, the things that were not our fault at all?
ILLUST> In the movie Bagger Vance, Rannulph Junnah was a young man who grew up with an intense passion and desire for golf and becoming a professional golfer. As a teenager he is drafted to go off and fight in WWI. While there his entire company is killed he is the only survivor. In WWI young men from the same hometown were placed together in the same companies. All of his friends were killed. In an effort to medicate his pain he turns to alchohol and becomes an alcoholic. It is 15 years before he is even able to return to his hometown of Savannah, once he is there the dreams and desires that he once had for his life are long gone, they are the furtherest thing from his mind. His life feels hopeless until…watch this…
**********ROLL BAGGER VANCE CLIP 1 ***************
Rannulph Junah is a man who has lost more than his swing, he’s lost heart. The dreams and desires that once filled his heart with passion are gone. He has resigned himself to the fact that this is the way that life is going to be. Something significant has been lost. That is the way this stuff works. In the hands of the enemy what we’ve done and what’s been done quickly becomes so much more than just that. It defines us and we stop dreaming. The desires of our hearts just don’t seem to matter much anymore.
ILLUST> Outside of the hurt that I had caused Stacy, my girls, and so many others my biggest pain and hurt in the desert was the thought that I must give up on the desire of my heart to be in ministry. People would tell me that and write me that. About a year and half into the desert when some friends came around me to help restore me as a man, husband, father and follower of Jesus half of them were of the opinion that I probably should never be in ministry again. I trusted God and their hearts with my heart and restoration but that was so hard for me to hear. Even a lot of the books that I read suggested that same thing. Because of what I had done there was a stain that stayed forever and I should never be in ministry again. With all I had done I didn’t feel entitled to feel hurt, but it ripped my heart out. I would be forced to spend the rest of my life trying to ignore or kill this deep desire of my heart. Turns out that wasn’t God’s plan and I don’t think it is his plan for many of the desires he has placed in your life either. What we’ve done and what’s been done doesn’t define us. We are getting ready to see that. Let’s finish this…
20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
The first words out of the son’s mouth are I have sinned but his father doesn’t even address the sin issue, this is not about forgiveness. The robe and the ring here are not symbols of forgiveness they are symbols of restoration. They are intended to refute and directly address the son’s statement…I am no longer worthy to be called your son. This is a beautiful image of the God’s heart for us and a beautiful illustration of why he sent his son Jesus too. We have to get this…
JESUS WANTS AND NEEDS TO RESTORE ME. Again, we are really good in the church at talking about salvation. It’s important but I think we need to spend more time talking about restoration. This son in the story never lost his beloved son status, he simply lost his way. He needed to be forgiven, he needed restoration too, and so do we. Every day in my life I need Jesus to restore me, to restore my ability to see myself, despite all I have done and all that’s been done, to see myself as He sees me. Restoration doesn’t happen over night, it a process, it has taken a long time for the enemy to steal our hearts and crush our desire. It will take significant time for that to be restored, but it is a big part of what Jesus came to do.
ILLUST> So what does that look like? Restoration starts with a journey back through your story. Whenever we do Wild at Heart and Captivating groups at DCC we provide a timeline as an optional resource to help us begin to remember the details of all of the seasons of our lives and unpack our stories. Unfortunately, many opt out of that part of the journey, which kills me because it really is the most important part. What we are looking for are the highs and lows. Where were the hurts and the wounds as insignificant as they may seem to be? Those moments of pain become parts of the case that the enemy builds against us to keep us from seeing ourselves as God sees us. So there is that and then this, the part that often gets overlooked in the church. What were the things that you made you come alive growing up? What were your passions? They are connected to and provide a path back to the deep desires of your heart, desires that have been assaulted during the course of your life. Why is that important? Because our desire reveals our design and our design reveals our destiny. So we identify these things then what? Watch this…
***********ROLL BAGGER VANCE 2******************
See, awareness is not healing. Something has been assaulted and lost in our lives and we too have lost heart. AND Jesus comes for us like Bagger Vance came for Rannulph Junuh. Did you hear the message…I am right here with you, I have been here all along, yes you have made some mistakes along the way, yes some terrible things have happened in your life and story. I want to restore you to what I created you to be, I want to help you see yourself as I see you, as you really are. I want to heal and restore your broken heart. I love the tagline of that movie…sometimes we need a little help to reach our dreams. Junah did and we do too. Psalm 37:4…
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
God says find your place in me alone. How we doing with that? Take delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. Run to me. I am already running to you. I have asked Carla and the band to do one more song before we get out of here today. If you can’t sing or don’t want to sing that’s fine just listen closely to the words to this song. We are getting ready to take communion together. If you are not familiar we are going to pass around some trays that contain a little piece of cracker and a cup of juice. They represent the body and blood of Jesus. If you are a believer in Jesus take it and hold it and I will come back up here and we will take it together. If you aren’t sure or aren’t comfortable to pass the tray on, there’s no shame in that. As you hold it, remember what we said last week there’s power in the blood of Jesus beyond forgiveness. Think of that image of Jesus running toward you, not only to forgive you but to restore your broken heart. Jesus wants and needs to restore you. He is the only one who has the right to tell you who you are. Your identity is in him alone. Yes Jesus, right here right now I want all that you came to do for me. No one compares to Jesus. John 10:10…
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
We are up against an identity thief that is no laughing matter. Jesus says you’ve been carrying this burden long enough, time to lay it down, time to come on out of the shadows, take my hand, lift your head, and let me show the way to the life, the life that I came to bring you, the life that you have been looking for your entire life. Let’s Pray.
