This week is my first sermon as the senior pastor of Trinity Church of the Nazarene. It should be fun and probably a whole lot shorter than most preachers.
I'm actually using Indiana Jones for this illustration, which makes me happy. I love Indy after our kid's camp theme! I am using the scene where the pretty girl is falling through the cracks of the earth, about to plummet to her death, one hand held by Indiana... one hand reaching for the ancient artifact. Indy instructs her to let go of it, he needs both of her hands and she refuses, tragically falling to her death. The next scene is Indiana falling through the cracks of the earth, about to plummet to his death, one hand held by his Father... one hand reaching for the ancient artifact. His Father, in great wisdom, stops and says something along the lines of "Indy... just let it go. Just let it go." And Indiana lets it go, and is saved because of his choice.
It seems to me, many stories have this theme... of the hero giving up something. Even changing genres and looking at a movie like the Pacifier we see the big, huge, strong military guy who has never done anything but active, potentially deadly, and dangerous missions... suddenly having to care for kids. He finds himself needing to change diapers, dealing with drama at the kid's schools, and most importantly... giving up what he wants for the family. And the thing I really want to point out with this story is that it is when he gives up what he wants for someone else, that he truly lives.
"Just let it go," from the mouth of Indiana Jones' Father, will be my guiding metaphor. Giving up what we want for what God wants. My New Century Version (a 3rd grade level Bible that I enjoy preaching from) reads, in the words of Jesus, "If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing even to give up their lives to follow me Those who want to save their lives will give up true life, and those who give up their lives for me will have true life" (Matthew 16:24- 25).
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Just prior to these verses we see Peter jump in the way of God's redemptive plan. Jesus speaks of his upcoming death and Peter says, "God save you from that" or, in other words, "that kind of suffering, humility, and cruelty will never happen to you!" I'm sure Peter thinks the Greek tragic hero down at the movie theater in Rome can suffer and submit to humility but NOT Jesus! He's the Son of God.
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And before we are too quick to judge poor Peter and say, "naughty, naughty Peter, you should
know better than to get in the way of Jesus' suffering or to get in the way of God's redemptive plan," we should look at ourselves. We don't like to think about Jesus suffering either. How many of us just love to dwell in the sadness of the crucifixtion and focus on the death of Jesus? Of course we don't. We love Easter. We don't like to focus on the suffering of our Lord. We are just like Peter. And what about our daily lives? How many times to we choose what we want, just like Peter did, over what God wants? We hear God tell us about God's plan for redemption and instead of getting behind Jesus we are focused on what we want. When we refuse to "just let it go" Jesus tells us, "Get behind me Satan," just like he did with Peter.
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We do not want to get in the way of God's redemptive plan. We are following a Christ who submits to humility and cruelty, a Savior who suffered. Which means... we are called to follow the model of this Lord. We must be willing to submit to humility ourselves and be willing to "just let it go" and give up what we want for what God wants. For, just like in the Pacifier, it is when we give up what we want that we truly live.
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Jesus says to us, "Just let it go. Just let it go. There is a greater redemptive plan, so much bigger than the things you want." I have this vision... of God wanting to draw all of creation to God. I have this vision of God wanting to restore and renew all of creation. See, creation is fallen. We have been choosing what we want over what God wants for a LONG time. But this is not what we were created for and we were meant for something so much better than this! God wants to help us BE who we were meant to be... instead of choosing ourselves again and again.
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And when we act in the way God intended for us to act... and we choose what God wants over ourselves... and when we ARE the people of God who God intended for us to be... then we can offer back to God a beautiful offering- an offering of a restored and renewed creation.
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My prayer following the sermon will be something like this: "Lord God, the one who has a greater redemptive plan than any of our best laid plans, hear our prayer. Forgive us for the times we act like Peter... and get in the way of your suffering or in the way of your redemptive plan. Forgive us for the times we choose what we want over what you want. Help us to be able to "just let it go"- and give you all of our lives. Make us more than we could ever make ourselves. And may the offering that follows the model of Jesus Christ, be a beautiful offering to you. Help us to act like the people of God, whose who have the habits and patterns of self-sacrifice, so we might BE who you need us to be for a suffering world."
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