Stupid Deep (Jon Bellion)

Scripture Readings

Introduction

We continue with our series on Finding God in the Music, J’s favorite bands!

But today we’re going to take a few steps off the beaten path.

Switchfoot

I actually had the opportunity when I was a kid in the youth group here to meet Switchfoot on their first ever US tour.

Jeremy, remember that?

And I’ve been a huge fan ever since!

The Beautiful Letdown.

Oh Gravity!

Nothing is Sound

All absolutely fantastic albums.

A few years ago, Switchfoot put out a little album of cover tunes, and one stuck out to me.

It was a song called Stupid Deep.

They did a fantastic cover of it, but it led me to wonder who the original artist was.

And so I met Jon Bellion.

And I came across this version of the song, which is absolutely stunning and beautiful.

So, while Jon Bellion isn’t necessarily one of my favorite bands, Switchfoot is, and he put out an absolutely incredible song for us to listen to this morning.

This song is called Stupid Deep.

Among the many things to pay attention to in this song is that there is no chorus, just verses.

There are four total verses, but Jon repeats one verse three times.

It’s almost like he’s trying to get our attention with something, you know?

Stupid Deep

A stupid deep hole in the heart

It is true, we have a stupid deep hole in our hearts, don’t we?

And before we go any further with that, it’s probably helpful for us to clarify a few terms:

What is sin?

To be clear, I mean the state of being, not the individual acts.

A whole bunch of theologians have a whole bunch of answers to this question.

One of my favorite theologians is Andrew Root, who says that sin is the ever present condition of our impending death.

Which comes from a solid Biblical place.

Where does all this sin get us? The wages of sin are death.

And by the way, we’re all going to die.

There is no one, no where, who isn’t caught in the trap of sin.

It is a universal condition.

That’s our state.

So what then do we mean by “sinning,” the action of Sin?

What is sinning?

Andrew Root says that sinning is when we serve death in order to curry death’s favor.

That’s a bit of fancy theologian answers, so let me clarify a little bit.

Yesterday I rode my bike from home to the Churchill Community day.

(Quick shout out to my friends who joined me at the table, that was a hoot!)

But on my way to community day, I was biking and a dude in a pickup truck got entirely too close to me.

And so I yelled some words that a pastor ought not to yell.

And I extended a finger that pastors ought not to extend.

And I hurled some insults that a pastor ought not to be proud of.

And all of that was sinning, because I was serving death in order to try to avoid it myself.

I was scared, because this guy made me face down death in a way.

And so I threw some death his way in the form of middle fingers and curse words and insults.

When you see this, you can’t unsee it.

When a middle schooler is making fun of another student, it’s because being made fun of feels like death, so if I can get there first…maybe I can avoid that kind of death.

When we get greedy, it’s because we’re afraid we’ll run out of resources, and when that happens we’re going to die.

When we judge our neighbors for their perceived sins, it’s because we don’t want to be aware of our own deadly sins, we’d rather put someone else down.

In fact…

One of our worst strategies: Blame other people.

I have been struck lately how much of the Christian faith of late has become about other people.

So often when someone comes to me with a question, it tends to be about someone else’s sin, and not theirs.

When we have an issue that needs to be corrected, it’s so often “their” problem, and not ours.

In fact, we in the church have become absolute Jedi Masters when it comes to separating each other in to us and them.

So for a second, let’s make a commitment together:

As we keep going, let’s study our own stupid deep hearts, and not someone else’s, shall we?

Don’t worry about other people.

They’ll come around eventually, I promise.

For the next few moments, let’s stay focused on our own hearts.

A good question:

Actually, in seminary I had to take a class on preaching called Homiletics.

And I remember I once got points taken off because I ended a sermon with a question.

The professor said that sermons were supposed to be proclaimations, and that ending with a question was too squishy.

And with all due respect to seminary professors,

I think that questions are powerful.

They have the ability to pierce some of our most hardened defenses.

Who knows, maybe this sermon will end with a question too!

(That’s a trick they tought me in homiletics called foreshadowing.)

But man, this song, Stupid Deep, it asks the kind of questions that can pierce our defenses, doesn’t it?

What if?

What if we were fighting for a love we already have?

What if all our efforts to feel love were a waste?

Did you know that the adult film industry grosses anywhere between $10-12 BILLION WITH A B every year?

Say what you will about it, but that’s a lot of people looking in creepy places to find a love they already have.

What if it’s not so much naughty, but rather just another attempt to stave off death by turning people into objects, literally objectifying them?

What if it’s an attempt to earn love that God is already freely handing out to us each and every day?

What if we were so busy putting money in our hands that we forgot to live our lives?

What if we’re so busy trying to earn money to have a good life that we’re missing out on the life right in front of us?

What if all of our plans are distracting us from the plan that God already laid out for us?

What if we’re more comfortable making our own cash because we’d rather not trust God to keep us safe?

What if we’d rather not give our money away, because we think it’s a pretty good tool to keep that death away from us?

What if the paths we’re trying to cut are already cleared for us, and we don’t need to be working so hard?

I can’t tell you how many faithful Christians I’ve come across who are working themselves to the bone to make sense of this faith…riddled with anxiety about how God feels about them.

What if you didn’t need to wrestle that hard with your faith?

What if God was already clearing the path for us?

And actually, what if all of our efforts to clear the path are actually getting in God’s way?

Like have you ever been in the middle of a project, and someone offers to help, and you realize that because they’re their now the project’s going to take twice as long?

What if we’re doing that to God all the time?

What if the path is already clear?

What if we really are saved by grace through faith?

I mean, what if God really didn’t require any more of us than faith?

What if God really wanted to make sure that we knew we were saved?

What if God thought it was so important he would make Paul write it down twice in this short little passage?

Do you know how expensive parchment was back then?

You don’t waste space!

By grace you have been saved.

God who is rich in mercy has made us alive together with Christ for no other reason than God loves us.

What if it’s true?

And that’s the best part of these questions!

We are!

We are loved by Jesus Christ, each and every one of us.

One of my favorite things to do in a sermon is to repeat these lines over you.

I’ve lost track of how many sermons I’ve done this in, and I don’t care I’m going to keep doing it until I can’t speak any more.

Listen to me now:

You are loved by Christ.

You are loved by Christ.

You are loved by Christ.

Hey visitor that I’ve never met before:

You are loved by Christ.

Hey folks who are deep in the throws of grief and pain:

You are loved by Christ.

Hey folks who think that the hole in their hearts are so stupid deep, that their sin is so great that it can’t be overcome, I have something for you too:

Yes it can. You are loved by Christ.

It’s true. It’s true. It’s true.

And if we aren’t going to make sin about somebody else, don’t you dare make this about somebody else either!

Internalize this please:

You…go ahead and put your own name in here…you are loved by Jesus Christ.

He loves you to life.

We have been gifted this remarkable life that we can soak up and soak in no matter what our bank accounts say.

You have been gifted the simple things like sunrise, and a cool fall morning, and the friends you get to hang out with, and the taste of expertly brewed coffee, and church services that give you tingles.

And while you might have to pay for the raw materials, the ability to enjoy that kind of life doesn’t cost you one red cent.

So sure, work! Earn! Make money!

But don’t ever, ever let that get in the way of you enjoying the life that God has gifted you with!

We have a God who is smoothing the road out for us, in spite of our misguided efforts to cut our own path.

I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve come up to a roadblock or a challenge that felt insurmountable, only to have God show up in miraculous ways that don’t make any sense.

Ask yourself: do you really need to be swinging that machate so hard, or is the path already clear in front of you?

Maybe, just maybe, the path of least resistance is actually the one God is calling you toward.

We are saved by grace.

Jesus gave himself up for you.

You are redeemed by Jesus Christ.

You are made alive in God’s love.

I wonder what life would be like if we lived like it was true?