When Life is a Dumpster Fire

Connection and Tension

‌Christ is risen!

‌Have you ever been part of a dumpster fire? This is something that maybe started off good but goes spectacularly wrong. It’s trash, and now it’s on fire. Several years ago I was preaching on Jesus washing the disciples feet. I was trying to set the scene by talking about how dirty their feet would have been. I began to say they would have been covered in camel dung, but then I stopped myself and thought, no, there probably weren’t that many camels. They would have been covered in donkey dung. Now all this happened in my head in like .03 seconds. What came out was that their feet were covered in monkey dong. A good illustration became a dumpster fire, and it took about 10 minutes before we could get back on track.

I have another experience, though, with dumpsters. One of my chores as a young boy was to take the trash out. When I was around 7 we lived in a trailer park in Marietta, OK. My dad was in the oilfield, so we moved around a lot. The place you disposed of trash at this trailer park was a big dumpster. One evening after it had gotten dark, my mom asked me to take out the trash. Now, I was a timid child as it was, so I was already a little afraid to walk out to the dumpster by myself at night. But there was a big street light right by it, so it really wasn’t that dark. As I approached the dumpster, though, something raised up and looked at me. To this day I swear it looked like how Dracula rises out of his coffin. I became paralyzed with fear. I started hyperventilating, making a sound akin to a donkey. Literally all over the trailer park lights started coming on. I was literally scared to death. What I needed in that moment is for someone to tell me its going to be OK - to give me peace.

I think this is something like what the disciples were experiencing following the crucifixion of Jesus. Just a week before, they had entered Jerusalem with him surrounded by all these people shouting and singing. And then all the sudden it became a dumpster fire. It went wrong in the most horrible way possible. Now Jesus is dead, and as we’re going to see, the disciples are hiding. They are scared to death that the authorities will try to round up his followers, and fear drives them to physically lock themselves inside. In this moment they need someone to tell them it’s going to be OK - to give them peace.

And don’t we do the same thing. We have a difficult financial situation, or our marriage is struggling, or our job is stressful, or a relationships becomes difficult, and usually instead of facing it, we hide. Maybe it’s behind a locked door, but more often we deal with it by distraction. We just don’t think about it. We immerse our self in video games, a book, binging every episode of The Office. Maybe drugs or alcohol. A hobby. We look for a way of escape. Our tendency to hide from our dumpster fires gives us a false sense of peace, but we shouldn’t confuse peace with avoidance. What we need is for someone to tell us it’s going to be OK - to give us peace.

I called the message this morning, When Life is a Dumpster Fire. In our passage today, as the disciples are trying to escape their dumpster fire behind a locked door, Jesus is going to give them a new perspective on peace. They are going to learn, and we are going to learn, that Peace is not found in our situation; peace is found in person.

‌Text and Participation

‌Read John 20:19-20

You can have peace because Jesus has overcome.

Jesus says the first time, “Peace be with you.” Yet that announcement alone must not have given them any peace. I can image them being more frightened that someone just appeared i the room. Is this really Jesus?

And then it says that “he showed them his hands and his side.” Yes, it’s really me. See, here are the scars of my crucifixion. Now they believe it’s him and they are overjoyed. Jesus has overcome death itself.

This thought really grabbed my attention: Jesus is recognized by his scars. He is not some deity that is way off looking down on our troubled situations. He became one of us, and he has gone through the worst kind of dumpster fire imaginable. He has the scars to prove it.

But he overcame. Jesus took the worst the devil had to throw at him and won! He has overcome death and hell and now stands here ready to give us his peace. “Peace be with you” isn’t just a nice saying. Jesus is imparting something. His peace. Not the false peace the world or escapism can provide, but a real peace. Because Jesus has overcome he will make you to overcome. You can have this peace by trusting in the One who has overcome all things on your behalf.

Read John 20:21-23

You can have peace because Jesus is with you.

Jesus says again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And then he does this curious thing; he blows on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” For this to make sense we need to remember what Jesus had already told them about the Holy Spirit before his crucifixion.

John 14:16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” “Another” means “of the same kind”. The Holy Spirit that Jesus will send is just like Jesus. He’s not second string Jesus. To have the Holy Spirit is to have Jesus in all his fullness.

Jesus sends us out from the false places where we’ve tried to find peace. He sends us with the assurance that he is with us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus went on to tell the disciples, John 14:17 “This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” And in just a few weeks these same disciples are going to be filled the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit we receive when we say yes to Jesus. We can walk out this life and our calling with peace because Jesus now lives in us forever through the Spirit.

Two different times in this short passage Jesus greats the disciples with, “Peace be with you.” Two things become clear: First, the disciples desperately need peace, and second, Jesus is the one who gives it. Before Jesus died he told these same disciples, John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” This is not a peace that can be found behind locked doors. It’s not the false peace of avoidance, but the peace of his victorious resurrection and his continued presence by the Holy Spirit. He gives us a peace that, even when life throws us a dumpster fire, it can’t be stolen. Our peace is not in our circumstances but in our risen Lord.

Gospel and Invitation

I’m a little boy at a dumpster paralyzed with fear. I scream, I cry, I tremble. But then all of the sudden I feel the strong arms of my father around me, assuring me that I’m safe, giving me his presence. He asks me what’s wrong and I’m not able to speak, and so with trembling hands I just point at the dumpster. Then my hero does something I’ll never forget. He picks up a rock and throws it at the dumpster. Bang! And all of the sudden, rising up from the very bowels of hell itself…is a little orange tabby cat, who runs away in fright.

The devil comes to us in moments of stress and weakness, and he instills fear in our heart. He makes us believe he’s bigger than he is. That’s he’s more powerful than he is. He paralyzes us, he makes us want to run and hide. But at the resurrection our hero, Jesus, picked up the stone that covered the tomb and threw it at him, and the devil ran with his tail between his legs. Jesus is our eternal prince of peace. He is our overcomer. He is the one who is with us wherever we go and whatever we go through. The prophet Isaiah assured his people long ago, Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper.” Using our analogy, no dumpster fire fashioned against you shall prosper.

Jesus wants to impart peace to you this morning, and praise God that whatever locked doors you’ve hidden behind cannot keep him out. This is good news for those living through a dumpster fire. He wants to give you peace. The first peace he gives is with God. By his death and resurrection he has reconciled us with the Father, allowing all who will receive him to become children of God. I invite you to take that step today and experience the peace of forgiveness (next steps slide).

But hearing about peace and having peace are two different things. I can know something in my knower but still be unable to get it into my heart. I’ve found that sometimes it takes some wrestling with God before what I know in my head can travel the twelve inches to my heart. The wrestling I’m talking about is not trying to make God give me something he doesn’t want to give, but getting my heart into a place where I can receive it. I want to give us some space to wrestle this morning. As I invite you forward for Communion in a moment, I want to encourage you that, if you are in the middle of a dumpster fire, to just kneel here at the alter and ask God for his peace. And then wait for his words “peace be with you”.