The Divine Crash

This weeks sermon is a result of us skipping these scriptures a few weeks ago.  I am not sure why or how I managed to skip this one but there is so much here that I needed to come back to it.  Feel free to listen to the audio at the bottom or on iTunes. At the beginning of the sermon I have a raw onion that I cut into to show layers, like a parable, then I eat the raw onion.  Later, as we begin to talk about the stories we tell I write those names on a giant white board that at the end I erase and write “You Are More.”  Also, all scripture I quote is from the Common English Bible.

Psalm 78:1-4 ” Listen, my people, to my teaching: Tilt your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a proverb. I’ll declare riddles from days long gone, ones that we’ve heard and learned about, ones that our ancestors told us. We won’t hide them from their descendants; we’ll tell the next generation all about the praise due the Lord and his strength the wondrous works God has done.

Matthew 13:34-35 “Jesus said all these things to the crowds in parables, and he spoke to them only in parables. This was to fulfill what the prophet spoke: I’ll speak in parables; I’ll declare what has been hidden since the beginning of the world.

Psalm 78 is an open teaching meant to reveal the word of God.

Matthew 13:34-35 shows a switch in audience from groups who don’t understand to small group that does understand.

For Jesus the parables are not to hide things from people but to reveal things to them. But they may not understand. (Matthew 13:12-13)

Parables are meant to reveal the truth of God to us.

- Like ogres and onions with multiple Layers and multiple avenues with multiple meanings. Each layer that sometimes makes us cry is meant to  reveal the truth of God.

- Parable of Good Samaritan

- Many truths.

- That God is good even when we are not

- That We are called to help

- That Social Standing is no excuse to not help

- Parable of the prodigal son

- You can always come home.

- God will become an embarrassment to rescue you

- Parable of the Pearl

- God is worth everything

- If you give up everything you get God but you have nothing else

- We can go on and on but what we find is that Parables have more meanings than one reading can show.

- In Jewish teachings parables were the most common way to teach people about God.

- There are parables in the Old Testament. The Most common is 2 Samuel 12:17 when the prophet  Nathan confronts David about his issues with Bathsheba. David didn’t think he had done anything wrong until he was told a parable.

- This Parable shows a function of parables. To make us a little uncomfortable and leave us squirming in our seats because we realize we fit into the parable.

- Even outside of the Bible there are ancient parables that have been passed down to teach about God

- Some even from the time of Jesus that Jesus probably would have known.

                    – “When Moses was feeding the sheep of his father-in-law in the wilderness, a young kid ran away; Moses followed it until it reached a ravine, where it found a well to drink from.  When Moses got up to it, he said, “I did not know that you ran away because you were thirsty.  Now you must be weary.” He took the kid on his shoulders and carried it back.  Then God said, “Because you have shown pity in leading back one of a flock belonging to a man, you shall lead my flock, Israel.” 

- This should bring in echoes of the Good Shepherd who seeks out the missing one sheep and carries it back. And yet this is outside the Bible but from the time of Jesus.

- Jesus also taught in parables because they were practical.  It would be useless to argue what the definition of compassion is but if he can illustrate what compassion looks like then it becomes understood by nearly everyone.

We still use parables in our everyday life.

Am I to blame?

When the guilt and the shame

Hang over me

Like a dark cloud that

Chases you down

In the pouring rain

How many of you know exactly what this feels like? You can’t explain it but this reverberates deep in your soul?

This is a song by 3 Days Grace.  Called “Someone who Cares” and it illustrates the use of a parable in today’s context.

Parables create a vision in a person’s mind in which they are able to put themselves.

Another common one is the X-men comics.

X-men debuted on September 1, 1963 and is a story of people who are different and those differences scare those who are not like them.  It is a parable of the civil rights movement of the 60′s.  Even to the point where people try to kill everyone who is different and some choose to become violent and others non-violent.

Through parables people are able to create a whole new world.

Parables are a way of writing a whole new world for people to place themselves in.

We write parables about ourself and our own story. We pick out parts of our story that tell a particular view point and we decide that that is what is true where we could just as easily pick out other parts and make a much different parable of our life.

Sometimes we even let people write parables about us. Sometimes we believe the stories people make up for us.  Stories that define us and bring us to all sorts of dark places.

These parables become the very way we view the world and they can hold us down, destroy our world and keep us lonely and ashamed all because of the parables we have been told.

Some of us have been called all sorts of things, all sorts of stories have been told about us.

Some of us have been told we are:

• dumb
• ugly
• fat
• slow
• lazy
• worthless
• never going to amount to anything
• waste of energy
• an accident
• a regret
• a mistake
• hopeless
• Waste of Space

We have had these things and more said to us and we have said them to ourselves.  In fact we have heard these messages so often that they become our world and what we truly believe about ourselves.

BUT the thing about parables is that because they always have more than one layer it means the final word has not been spoken.

It means that there is always room for a fresh word and a new story.

Through parables, Jesus reminds us, that there is still more to be said.  There is still a new word to be spoken. There is still “one more thing” that will come out.

In Genesis 1 God speaks words and new worlds come into existence.

This is still true today.  When words are spoken worlds are created.

When you tell a story people create a world around the words that are spoken.

When you see someone whose whole world is a story of darkness and shame and you speak fresh words to them then you see a whole new world break forth in the midst of their life and they stand up straighter, their countenance changes, and life looks bright again.

For Jesus, those worlds were new, life giving, and freeing.

So then, do you need a fresh word? Do you need a new world to be created right in front of you? Then may you hear a fresh word today.  May you know that right now a new world is created. May you hear these words from God and find a new world full of Grace and life.

Colossians 1:20 “God reconciled all things to himself through him whether things on earth or in the heavens Jesus brought peace through the blood of the cross.

- In Greek the word for “all things” means just that. All things.

- Through Jesus’ work on the cross you were reconciled to God.

Do you need a fresh word from God? 

Romans 8:1-2 “Now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

- You are now free. Sin and Death are no longer your only option.

- You are no longer condemned because Jesus has liberated you.

Do you need a fresh word from God? 

Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.”

Salvation is not something you can earn or do right. It is about belief that Jesus is Lord.

Do you need a fresh word from God?   

Psalm 103:8-13 The LORD is compassionate and merciful, very patient, and full of faithful love. God won’t always play the judge; he won’t be angry forever. He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin or repay us according to our wrongdoing, because as high as heaven is above the earth, that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him. As far as east is from west— that’s how far God has removed our sin from us. Like a parent feels compassion for their children— that’s how the LORD feels compassion for those who honor him.

Do you need a fresh word from God?  

Psalm 91:14-16 “God says, Because you are devoted to me, I’ll rescue you. I’ll protect you because you know my name. Whenever you cry out to me, I’ll answer. I’ll be with you in troubling times. I’ll save you and glorify you. I’ll fill you full with old age. I’ll show you my salvation.”

Do you need a fresh word from God?  

What these scriptures are telling us is that you are more!

You are more than your past, you regrets, hurts, fears, and names you have been called.

Instead you are an heir to the throne of God. Galatians 4 says that the spirit of Jesus is in you and you are an heir to the throne of God.

You then are no longer defined by the stories others tell.  You are simply defined as a child of God.

Your fresh word is that you are more, you are loved.

May this be your fresh word and may today be a new day full of fresh grace and renewd hope.

So then, as we pray may God remind you that you are more than your choices, your past, and the stories that you have believed.  You are a child of God.

 

Sermon Audio

 

 

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