Your Past Redeemed

Prayer

Shaped by the Past

Major League Baseball season starts this Thursday. Thought it would be appropriate to start this morning to talk about one of the greatest hitters of all time, Tony Gwynn. Gwynn played 20 years for the San Diego Padres, earning him the nickname, Mr. Padre.

Gwynn had a .338 career batting average. For those of you who aren’t that familiar with baseball, .338 is an incredible batting average - especially to maintain over that over 20 years. Just to give you a point of reference, the league wide batting average last season was .244 - almost a hundred percentage points less.

Read a book a number of years ago that dove in deep on three baseball players and what made them so great - Tony Gwynn was one of them. Talked about what Gwynn did to become such a great hitter.

He would spend hours in batting cages, playing out scenarios that he would encounter as a batter, trying to anticipate what kind of pitch he might get if the count is 3-1 or 0-2, whether it be a high inside fastball or a breaking ball, low and away. Hour after hour, pitch after pitch, he would swing away - for one goal, to establish muscle memory.

When you’re in the batter’s box - and the ball comes out of the pitcher’s hand - you have less than 1/2 a second to react. Less than 1/2 a second. You don’t have time to think it through, to process what the pitch is and then adjust your swing. It has to be a natural reaction - reaction honed because you’ve done it so often. Muscle memory.

Those hours in practice paid off for Gwynn - in his 20 years in the majors, he won the National League batting title 8 times.

Strangely enough, this actually has a lot to do with discipleship, deep discipleship. Which has been the focus of our sermon series, Deeper Still - how we move from shallow Christianity to deeper discipleship.

Gwynn was working out what’s true for all of us, that the habits we practice day in and day out, things we’re intentional about - they nurture of patterns of behavior for us. Muscle memory, if you will.

Here’s challenge when it comes to deeper discipleship - we don’t come to this life in Jesus as a tabula rasa, blank slate. We already have deeply formed patterns, ways of thinking, that are well established within us.

So much of our life is driven by “muscle memory” - we react unconsciously - when it comes to issues of money, conflict, when situations get tense, when we experience strong emotions, whether it be grief or anger.

So much of this has been rooted in us through our family history and culture we grew up in .

As Scazzero says, “Numerous external forces may impact us, but the family in which we grew up is the primary one and, except in rare instances, the most powerful system that shapes and influences who we are.”

I can certainly look back and see how that is true in my life. I grew up in a family that was very thrifty, emphasis on not letting things go to waste, not spending frivolously, being willing to do without.

When my brother, Alf, and his now wife, Susan, first started dating, Susan would ask him things about our family, our family history. Alf, I don’t know. She couldn’t believe it - she grew up in a family that shared family stories a lot. It’s interesting that has changed over the last years for us, learned a lot more about my family in recent years.

This impact of our family on us is universal - we see examples of this in the Bible. Take, for instance, the first family of nation of Israel - Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebecca, Jacob and his wives, Leah & Rachel.

See the patterns that were passed down from generation to generation: Pattern of lying: Abraham lied on at least two occasions about Sarah being his wife. Rebecca worked with her son, Jacob (whose name means “deceiver”) to deceive Isaac. Jacob’s children lied about their brother, Joseph, being killed (they had sold him into slavery). Pattern of favoritism, Abraham favored Ishmael, Isaac favored Esau, Jacob favored Joseph and then Benjamin.

This is exactly that God means when he declares in Exodus 20, in talking about false idols: You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

A Hebrew scholar says that the word for punishing can mean, “tends to be repeated”, the children tending to repeat the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.

Every family has these patterns. Every family has healthy and good ways of relating that are passed down (some more than others), and every family has sinful patterns passed down…patterns in way they relate in marriage relationships, how they deal with conflict, how success is defined in that family, secrets that were kept.

Here’s a great quote from Scazzero that sums up the problem: “Jesus may live in your heart, but Grandpa lives in your bones.” But our concern is to be shaped like Christ - that he would be formed in us!

How do we get Jesus in our bones, too? How do we move out of those unhealthy ways of being that have been so deeply ingrained in us - muscle memory that’s been long formed? How do we as, Scazzero puts it, break the power of the past - so we can live into the future that God has for us in his kingdom, as a part of his family?

And this is our main point this morning: Central aspect of going beneath the surface of our lives in order to be deeply transformed by Jesus is learning to break power of the past. Begin with example of how God’s worked in his people to do this

Shaped by Christ

Example of Israel

Huge part of Israel’s history - enslaved by Egyptians for 430 years. How deeply ingrained that would be, learned helplessness - abiding sense of inferiority, weakness, fear

Similar to what happens to an adult elephant - who will not try to break free even when tied to a stake in the ground by a rope. Which the elephant could easily pull out, which he could easily pull out, but won’t - because what the elephant remembers is being tied up in the same way as a baby elephant and not being able to break free.

When God leads Israel out to the Promised Land, he doesn’t lead them by the most direct route, the route that would have made the most sense, common trade out of the time, along coast

Listen to Exodus 13:17-18…When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea...

They’d been slaves all their lives (and their parents before them, and their parents before them). Face the Philistine army, they would likely flee back to the “safety” of Egypt. Comfort of the familiar, even when it’s a bad situation

As God leads them through the wilderness, the challenge isn’t so much getting Israel out of Egypt, it’s getting Egypt out of Israel, to root out the deeply formed patterns, break power of the past…no easy task

No sooner are they free of the Egyptians and we see Israelites grumbling and complaining - twice! Listen to one of their complaints: “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Talk about selective memory! Life was so nice back in Egypt, we sat around and had all food we wanted! We learn later in Deuteronomy 8 that God intentional brought them through the wilderness to learn to depend on him. To break the power of the past.

When Moses leaves them to go up Mt. Sinai to meet with God, what do they do? Slip right back into those old patterns - worship Egyptian style - they make an idol out of gold. Because that’s what they knew, that’s what was in their bones.

God has to teach them how to live differently, shape them to be his people. Why he led them through the wilderness.

It’s whole point of the 10 commandments. God is teaching them the best way to live life (i.e., not like the Egyptians). Fascinating aspect of the commandments are the references we find to their enslavement

Exodus 20:2, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. We’re not in Egypt anymore, whole new game

Commandment to observe the Sabbath day. According to the command, the Sabbath wasn’t just for Israelites, but for everyone and everything: your children, your servants, your animals - they rest, too. Why? Deuteronomy 5:15 - Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

You can’t treat your family or your servants like you were treated. In Egypt, your whole worth was on producing. Work. You need to learn to be. Slow down to be with me.

Do you see process going on? God wants to break power of that past, enslavement in Egypt, their learned way of being - in order to live into the newness of life he has for them, as his people, who lives in his way.

God wants to do same in us - NT is full of references to our enslavement to sin. Patterns are deeply rooted in us - well trained muscles. So much of that has come from our upbringing, our families of origin - patterns of sin that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Process of breaking those patterns begins with recognizing them, tendencies. You have to go backward in order to go forward.

Every family has its “rules”, values - spoken and unspoken, around money, work, success, conflict, anger, emotions. Here’s a helpful image: Example of Unbiblical Family Commandments

What’s yours? Helpful to reflect on this. What are the one or two patterns from your family of origin that may be impacting you now?

Central to breaking those patterns is recognizing that you have been birthed into a new family, that family of Jesus. No longer in Egypt!

Doesn’t mean you reject your own family, but it is a shift to a new identity, and where you look to discover who you are and how best to live. We want to be shaped by Jesus Christ. We want to be one with our Father in Heaven.

Family is the metaphor most often used to describe the church, the community of faith. We see it throughout the New Testament:

Romans 8:14-15…For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God…By him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Galatians 3:26…So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

Jesus makes it plain that his family are those who do the will of the Father in heaven. Jesus is saying to us that this is our primary identity. This is your family, I am your brother. God is our father, our Abba, our Poppa.

Like any family, there are household rules. In this household, we live like this. These are things we value. This is how we treat each other (love one another). We believe every member of body of Christ has a gift to offer.

Hard work of discipleship comes in. Where Tony Gwynn work comes in - our need to break the old patterns and nurture a whole new set of habits, new “muscle memory”.

We root our identity in our new family, family of God, we come to recognize those sinful patterns, and we apply Jesus’ teachings, putting them into practice

Spiritual Disciplines - get to the batting cages!

Take some time this week to reflect on your family of origin, using the genogram or unbiblical family commandments image (post info on Monday)

Think through some of those areas that all families deal with - how was conflict handled in your family? What do you remember about the marriages in your family - parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles? How was anger expressed? Gender roles? People of other social classes or races or nations? How was God talked about - if he was talked about at all?

It might be helpful to think about things you remember your Dad saying? Your Mom? What was taught regularly, or emphasized?

At the end of your time of reflection, see if you can name one or two patterns from your family of origin that may be impacting you today, especially as a pattern that you may need to break.

Move to discipleship - what does God have to teach you here? What teachings do you need to keep swinging away at, putting into practice. May be very helpful to have a Scripture passage to memorize, to hold as your guide.

How do we think about money? Grew up in a family that was very thrifty with money, recognized my desire to control money, our savings (limit myself on how often I check our finances). I’ve also been attentive to how Jesus lived, his beautiful trust of the provision of the Father (feeding the 5,000, walking across the water).

Maybe you’ve had problems with anger - using it as a weapon, or holding a grudge for a long time, let it seethe and simmer. Ephesians 4:26-27 would be helpful here: “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

What was the approach to work in your family? Great thing if you valued hard work…but was it too emphasized, significance came out of your work, or it’s a source of pride (and therefore a source of judgment against those who don’t work hard). Verse on not judging (Matthew 7:1-2, do not judge or Philippians 2, having the same mind as Christ...

Keep at it, keep swinging away, repenting and prayerfully offering your willingness to be obedient to God.

Inspiration - I hope you’ll come into this honestly. As much as we may try to cover it up, every family has their warts, junk. Ugly fights. Broken relationships. Addictions. Abuse.

When Jesus became human, he was born into a family. He was the Son of David, born into that family line. A family - like ours, that was full of warts.

One of the things I love about the Bible is that it doesn’t try to cover over the dirty family secrets, it’s all out there. Matthew begins his Gospel with genealogy of Jesus, and it’s fascinating to see what he does there, because he doesn’t just list the names of fathers (standard practice), he adds a few of mothers that reveal some of that family mess

Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar - scandalous story of Tamar dressing up like a prostitute and Judah sleeping with her

And when Matthew mentions David: David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife. Reminder of David committing adultery with Bathsheba and then having Uriah murdered to try to cover it up!

This was Jesus’ family line!

This is what Jesus does, he comes into the midst of our mess - including our families - in order to redeem them. He wants to invite us into his new family, family of God. Hebrews 2:10-11...

In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

God is bringing his many sons and daughters - that’s you and I - to glory. He’s making us holy - because we’re now a part of Jesus family. He’s glad to call you sister. Brother. Our role is to live into the family tradition.