While You're Away: Restart

Welcome/Series & Weekend Intro

Hey - Welcome to Prairie Lakes Church on what is really the last full weekend of July. I don’t know if you feel this way or not, but I get to this point of the calendar and start to feel a little “itchy.”

August is just around the corner - which is like the gateway from summer into fall. So things start populating the calendar - like school open houses, or bump up weekend at church next weekend, or whatever. And I just start feeling the itch of a different season coming up.

And beyond August, there’s Saturday and Sunday football, and hunting, and shorts/sweatshirt weather, and all of that other good stuff that we kinda start itching for with the change of a season.

But we’re not there yet. It’s still July. Most of summer is behind us, sure… but as the 90 degree temps remind us: we’re not in the next season, yet.

We’ve been in this series for the whole month of July that we’re calling “While You’re Away.” The summer season gives us some really, really good opportunities to be away. In fact, just last weekend, my family went away to Okoboji with some friends and we spent a couple of days out on the water. Beautiful. In fact, we ran into a crew from Fort Dodge, another from Osage, and another from the Cedar Falls campus while we were out there. I was getting “Pastor Jesse!” shouts randomly from all over the place. Tons of us are taking advantage of being away.

But this season of being “away” is gonna come to an end pretty soon. And so here’s the idea for this weekend as we conclude our series and start to think about the next season. Here it is:

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While you’re away, start thinking about a restart in your relationship with Jesus and his family.

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That’s what we’ll be talking about this weekend: a restart in our relationship with Jesus, and with Jesus’ family.

Ever feel like you need a restart in a relationship? I’ve felt that a time or two with my wife. Like, I’ll start to say something, and then about midway through saying it, as I hear what’s coming out of my mouth | and I see the look on her face as she’s hearing it | I’ll say something like… “Let me start over.” Yeah. Good idea. Because where that was going was not gonna be good.

We just need a restart sometimes.

And really, this is what Jesus offers us, every day, with him: a chance to restart. I wanna take a look together at how he offered it to a man named Levi as we begin to get our minds around this. So turn with me to Luke 5:27.

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Luke 5:27-32

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(Explain where to find Luke; note that the verses will be on the screen as well.)

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Luke 5:27–28 (NIV)

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

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You know, I’ve read and studied the Bible, like, most of my life. And 40 years in, I still have this experience sometimes as I read it:

“What just happened?”

That’s my experience as I read those two verses: “What just happened?”

Jesus just walks up to a guy, says “Follow me,” and the guy literally just leaves everything and does it? That just seems… unreal. Like, not real life. Real people don’t seem to operate this way.

I don’t know what you do for a living—but likely you’re either in an office, or at the store or restaurant, or on the job site, or even at home taking care of the kids… whatever you do 9-5, just imagine this:

I show up at 10:47 a.m. and say: “Let’s go.”

And you do it.

Like: you leave whatever you were in the middle of doing | for whoever you were doing it for | by whatever deadline you were supposed get it done by | so that you get whatever compensation you need to pay your bills | and you're just out, immediately, no questions asked.

What is happening here?

Well, here’s what’s happening.

Levi is a tax collector, likely in the town of Capernaum. Capernaum was situated on the border between two different regions governed by two different governors in Jesus’ day: from Galilee governed by Herod Antipas, to Gaulinitus governed by Herod Philip.

And so Levi is essentially a border or customs agent, demanding that fees be payed to cross from one territory to another. That’s what he does for a living.

Levi is a really common Jewish name. But this particular Levi was employed to collect taxes for an empire that most Jews saw as the enemy. He was taking money from his Jewish brothers and sisters to fund the occupying enemy forces.

And so, he was hated. Despised. Tolerated, because he had Roman soldiers backing him up. But shunned. Not a real Jew, nor welcomed into the Jewish faith community.

But here was this Jewish rabbi or respected Bible teacher, a man named Jesus, who said:

Let’s go. You and me.

And this rabbi says it to Levi after “seeing” him—which actually is a word that implies more than just spotting him at his post… but really it’s more like Jesus “paid careful, thoughtful attention to him.”

Jesus, a Jewish rabbi who had built a reputation not only for his command of the holy Scriptures but also for an uncommon authority and power, this rabbi deliberately, thoughtfully, and intentionally invites Levi in.

With two simple words, Jesus gives Levi a chance to start over if he wants it.

You built this kind of life with these rewards and these consequences. Wanna restart?

Wanna chance to belong to something that you thought you’d never get another chance to belong to?

Wanna chance to leave your past behind and create a new future with me?

Want me to teach you what I know about God and life and everything else?

It’s a no-brainer for Levi. Yep. Yes I do, Jesus.

That’s what’s happening—which makes sense of what happens next:

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Luke 5:29 (NIV)

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.

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When someone gives you a chance to restart like Jesus gave Levi, the natural response is to both celebrate it and also to see if anyone else in your same situation wants the same chance.

And Jesus is more than happy to do both: party, and give everyone else at the party the same opportunity.

Before we go on with the story here, there’s a few things I want to flesh out about what a “restart” with Jesus is, and what it’s like.

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A restart with Jesus...

Rests on his invitation before your decision.

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Levi wasn’t looking at Jesus; Jesus was looking at Levi.

Levi didn’t notice Jesus, feel convicted, realize he was a sinner, repent of his sin, and then ask Jesus to forgive him and give him a chance. No.

While Levi was there in his booth collecting taxes,

While Levi was on the outside looking in,

While Levi was going his own way, hated by others and probably hating others himself,

Jesus says,

Follow me.

Listen:

We don’t will ourselves into a restart with Jesus. We don’t push ourselves into it. Our will comes into it eventually; we have to make a decision eventually.

But if we do it it’s because Jesus is saying to you and me now just like he said to Levi back then:

Wanna restart? Follow me.

While you’re away—geographically, spiritually, emotionally, distance between your and your church or you and where you wanna be—wherever you are in whatever regard—

Jesus is inviting you to restart with him.

He is.

Right now. In this moment.

It’s who he is.

We don’t restart with Jesus because we know it’s the right thing to do or because we ought to.

We do it because he sees us, is going after after us, right where we’re at, and graciously gives us an opportunity to jump in or jump back in.

If you start by looking for something inside yourself to cause you to restart with Jesus, you’re looking in the wrong place. It’d be like Jesus offering this chance to Levi and, instead of him just getting up, he thought about the shame of his situation, or whether he was worthy, or whether Jesus really knew who he was talking to, or if he could measure up and merit such an invitation, or how it’d all work out...

But Jesus didn’t ask him, “How do you feel about your past?”

Jesus didn’t ask him if he felt worthy.

Jesus didn’t ask him if he thought he could change.

Jesus didn’t even ask him what he believed about whether or not he was the Son of God.

The invitation was so straightforward and simple. Follow. Me.

Hey:

If God in the flesh says “You can start again with me,” you do it! Because a chance to restart with Jesus starts with Jesus, not you or me!

That’s number 1. Number 2:

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A restart with Jesus...

Rests on his invitation before your decision.

Requires you to repent—to leave life on your own terms for life to the fullest.

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Because Levi knew that this invitation Jesus was offering him wasn’t dependent on him, he jumped at the opportunity to restart. But make no mistake about it: he was jumping from a life where he called all of the shots to a life where Jesus called them.

That’s what repentance is: Jesus does something that changes your mind about him, and as a result, changes your mind about your own life.

Now, for Levi, repentance was unique in the sense that it required him to basically leave his old vocation and his way of making a living and literally follow in Jesus’ actual footsteps as he made his way over the hills of Galilee. That’s not true for everyone who Jesus invites; but it was true for Levi.

But here’s the thing that was true not only for Levi but for any of us who want to repent and say “yes” to a restart with Jesus:

It means that you and I don’t get to call all the shots about our life anymore. As you follow Jesus, you give him the authority to tell you how to spend your life, including your time and money. You give Jesus the place to tell you what’s most important. You give Jesus the right to define what’s right and wrong, moral and immoral. You make Jesus’ commands your motto.

And listen:

You don’t do all of that because “it’s the right thing to do.” You do it because Jesus has changed your mind about life itself: that life with Jesus—the life that Jesus is inviting you into with him—it’s just better than the life you can create on your own.

Jesus wasn’t giving Levi the life that he always wanted; he was giving Levi the life that his soul needed.

Here’s how this feels for me in 2021. Here’s how Jesus’ invitation hits me:

I hate that I sometimes spend my money on stupid things.

I hate that I sometimes get so wrapped up in work or busyness that I’m fatigued or stressed or irritated.

I hate that I mindlessly scroll through crap on my phone or watch episode after episode of whatever.

It’s not that all these things are bad, necessarily—it’s just bad when they come at the expense of the best things.

I hate it when I don’t feel like I’m in a life-giving and self-sacrificing rhythm with God and my church.

The life that I live on my own is not the life that my soul truly craves.

I want to be close to God. I want to be close to Jesus. I want to be in a real relationship with him and his family.

And this is exactly the chance that Jesus freely gives—a chance to restart a life with him and his family, any day, every day.

But make no mistake about it:

Just like Levi, it requires you to leave the life that you could still live on your own terms if you wanted to.

But just like Levi, it affords you the opportunity to get the life that the deepest parts of your soul truly crave. Life to the fullest. Life that only Jesus can truly give. Life with Jesus and his family.

Here’s the third and final thing:

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A restart with Jesus...

Rests on his invitation before your decision.

Requires you to repent--repent—to leave life on your own terms for life to the fullest.

Results in you inviting others.

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Levi knew that he was the least likely guy to get an invitation from one of the most prominent rabbis of his day. But he got it. And he accepted.

And the first thing Levi does was test its authenticity.

How? By reciprocating the invite.

Jesus says, “Follow me.” Levi says: yes.

Levi says, “Wanna come over?” Jesus says: yes.

It’s real. Jesus really wants to be in an actual relationship with me. He not only wants me to know who he is; he wants to know who I am. Jesus doesn’t just want me to come to church more often or stop making bad decisions or start doing more good; he wants to be in my life, where I’m at.

He wants to be my… friend?!

Do you know what this is like? Do you know what it’s like to be friends with someone when you don’t feel like there’s anything about you that would merit them wanting to be friends with you… but then they actually do? And not because you’re a project, or they feel bad for you, or they want to fix you, but because and only because they seem to genuinely like you and want to hang out with you?

Do you know what that is like?

Levi found out what that was like on that day. And it felt so good that he couldn’t help but want that for all of his friends.

I want all of you to get a chance to experience what I just got to experience with Jesus today. And I’m telling you, he can’t wait to meet you. I know it sounds crazy. But trust me. Come over.

But Levi… I mean, if Jesus knew what we were doing the last time you had us all over, he wouldn’t step foot into your place. Hide the empties.

Not true. Guy knows exactly what I do and exactly who we are. And he is absolutely gonna be there. Come and see.

Restarting with Jesus—not because you feel like you ought to, but because you genuinely believe that’s who he is and what he wants and what he’s doing—will always result in a renewed desire for others in your circle to restart with him as well.

When you believe that Jesus is inviting you to restart with him and you say yes...

When you leave the life where you’re calling the shots and you experience his life to the fullest...

You will genuinely want your friends to have the same chance to be friends with Jesus like you’re friends with him.

When you’ve found a great deal, you tell others about the deal (after you’ve bought yours, of course.)

When you discover a new spot to eat or have coffee or take a walk, you want others in your life to know and experience it with you. That’s how it works.

And that’s why, by the way, that so many of us have a problem inviting others—whether it’s into our lives, or to church, or to a deeper level of relationship—because that’s not how it’s working with us. That’s not our experience with Jesus.

Jesus is the guy I believe in. He’s the guy I believe is the Son of God. He’s the guy who died on the cross for my sins. He’s the guy I sing about and want my kids to believe in and who sets my standard for right and wrong and all of that.

He’s all of that. But for a lot of us he’s not the guy who noticed me, studied me, saw me, invited me, and came over to my house to meet my friends.

See:

I just think a lot of us who claim to know Jesus don’t really feel like we’re all that great of friends with him, or that he actually wants to be friends with us. We like our church; we believe in Jesus and the Bible. But that’s my faith life. And while that’s an important part of my life, it might not be an important part of your life.

And so an invite to church feels more like an invite to a private family gathering that you’re gonna feel weird stepping into—rather than an invite to personally meet this Jesus who you not only “believe in” but actually know and who actually knows you… AND who you’re confident wants to know them and will invite them just like he invited you.

It’s still such a weird time we’re living in.

So many of us are wandering in this weird place right now for a lot of reasons. Covid pushed us; the election strained us; American culture and society disappointed us; and maybe we even felt like the church let us down.

Or maybe at this point it’s just you. Maybe you’re numb, or bitter, or tired, or lazy, or ashamed, or just plain stuck.

I don’t know why we’re wandering. But I know a lot of us are.

Listen:

Jesus is watching you. He’s observing you. He’s noticing you.

He not only wants you to know him; he wants to know you.

And he’s deliberately, intentionally, and personally inviting you to restart with him.

You can simply get up, leave all of that garbage that you’re holding on to or that you feel like is holding on to you behind and just say yes.

Maybe it’s time for a restart with Jesus.