Woven into a story

Announcements

Check your bulletin, website, facebook, email, flyers...

Sermon

Back in 2003 Donald Miller published a little memoir of his journey away from and back to Christianity titled Blue Like Jazz. It was very popular for a while in Christian circles and not too long later he was approached by a Christian filmmaker about making a movie.

It took some convincing, but he agreed and a few days later the producer Steve and his cinematographer Ben came to stay with Don and start outlining the screenplay.

They set up the white board and sat down to stare at it.

After a long silence Steve asks, “How do we get people to like Don?”

A little later, “Why does Don need to leave home?”

“What will he do that matters?”

It wasn’t long before Don began to push back. What about the way it happened?

They explained that in a movie, it is really essential that everything that happens matters. That the character is interesting. “You’re saying I’m boring”...”yeah”

Put yourself in that place for a moment. How would you feel? Now, they did soften the blow.

That’s pretty much all of us.

The net result of this first conversation was Don pursuing the answer to what made a good story and then…could he live one?

He wrote about this journey in his book, “A million miles in a thousand years”

There’s something about that idea. Stories are pretty essential things to life.

Stories have power that teaching or text can’t

Stories can free and enslave

Stories can wound and heal

Notice the difference in scripture:

Joshua 1:9 “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””

Great verse. Great promise. Knowing something is true, rarely moves the needle. How many of you have heard that verse? How many still are afraid and discouraged sometimes?

The verse teaches a truth

Listen to the story.

Moses has died, The Lord comes to Joshua and tells him it’s time to go take the promised land. No one will be able to stand against you. I will be with you as I was with Moses.

Be strong, have courage, you will accomplish what I promised to Abraham. Be strong, have courage, follow the law, keep your heart for me. Think about it, do it. Be strong and courageous.

Then comes our verse:

Then he goes to the officers and tells them to get ready, because in three days they begin their journey.

Then Joshua goes to the potential trouble spot. The Reubenites, Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh.

They already decided to take land on this side of the Jordan. They didn’t need to fight battles for land and freedom, they were there. Moses had called them to still go fight, to still help their nation…but now that they were settled…now that Moses was gone...

So he reminds them of their duty.

I imagine they looked at each other a moment before a spokesperson answered.

Joshua 1:16-18 “They answered Joshua, “Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go. We will obey you, just as we obeyed Moses in everything. Certainly the Lord your God will be with you, as he was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against your order and does not obey your words in all that you command him, will be put to death. Above all, be strong and courageous!””

Did they know they were echoing God’s voice in Joshua’s head? I doubt it. But you see what the story adds the truth? The story moves. Joshua saw the evidence when he started doing what God called him to do.

The story has ups and downs, challenges and victories, Like our lives...

Stories tell us who we are and who we were and who we could be

Hamilton the musical vs McGraw-Hill’s History textbook

One gives information

One moves the heart

Amazingly, the artistic version while making up details conveys some truths far better. Thomas Jefferson...

Bible not a textbook

Not a rule book

Stories, poetry, characters, imperfections, brokenness

In Buddism we are invited to a philosophy

In other deisms we are invited to worship and obey

In Atheism we are invited to truth as mankind can know it.

But in Jesus we are invited to join a STORY

To be swept into a narrative that spans the millenia, and isn’t finished yet

But is begun and completed in every thread of human life daily

Echoed in every story of scripture, each story reflecting back an image, a facet in a diamond of the grand story.

Today…let me tell you the big story…and offer the invitation to step for the first time, or to step deeper into the greatest plot ever.

The Story

When Donald Miller got going in his journey he soon came across a definition of story that shaped where he went from there. A definition I think nails it pretty solidly.

The reason I like his definition, is that when placed alongside the story of the gospel that we are being invited into…it just fits. Let me walk through it one step at a time.

And in each step, if you’re taking notes, I’ll give you a question or two to consider later today. Number one, a story has:

A Character

A good story has a character. Not just any character.

Go rewatch the first half hour of almost any movie that made you care and you will see that they slipped in some little things to make you care about the character. Things you probably forget about as the plot develops and the action begins, but take out that element…no matter what else happens in the movie…you probably won’t care and you won’t know why.

We won’t linger on this point long…because we already spent two sermons here.

There is a weaver and there are threads in this story.

The grand narrative of scripture reveals a God who is we we described him two weeks ago and then each of us, threads that may seem insignificant…but as we discussed at length last week, are wonderfully made, purposefully set in place and absolutely essential to the plot.

I’ll add this note though. A key detail that sets Christianity apart. The weaver didn’t just set the threads to the loom and get to work…he put himself in the pattern as well. From beginning to end, God isn’t just the author, but a participant.

In fact, he’s the main character. The story is about him first. No where is this more clear than in the incarnation. When God not only comes into the story, but goes so far as to become one of the threads...

Hebrews 1:1-2 “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.”

What makes the weaver put himself in the fabric, what makes the creator become the created?

Before we move into the answer to that question, Something to consider: What kind of character have I played? The beautiful thing is that no matter what the story playing around you looks like, you have agency, the ability to choose the character you will be, the words you use, the actions you take.

If you doubt that, if you think you are forced to be who you are, and act like you do, read Joanie Erikson Tada, Corrie Ten Boom, Deitrich Boehnoffer, Those woven into God’s story are filled with God’s power.

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.”

But what moves the weaver? What moves us?

Who Wants Something

A character who wants something.

Consider for a moment a movie about a man who sees an advertisement for new flooring from home depot. (I want new floors…)

So his family saves, they agonize over material and colors, then finally on a glorious day the new floors are delivered, they are installed, and now the family gazes upon and walks upon this glorious new terrain.

I’d want my money back. First off, because they forgot the golden rule and didn’t paint the walls before replacing the floors. But slightly bigger deal…YAWN. Who cares?

Not saying you should never replace your floors. I use that example because we talk about it all the time at our house.

But is that your story?

Want to know what matters most to you? look at your calendar and your checkbook. Where do your time and money go?

But remember, we aren’t the main characters. We still need to answer the question, why did God, the weaver, the creator, humble himself and come into the story not as the almighty, but in a cradle, born to a teenage girl in a tiny town in the Middle East?

1 Timothy 1:15-17 “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them. But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Why? To save sinners. And the apostle Paul, looking at his own thread notes his need for saving is as great as anyones, and he received mercy.

We could repeat John 3:16 till we were blue in the face and still not scratch the surface of the depth of that simple truth. God loved the world so much he gave his son.

God created these threads, this beautiful woven masterpiece that has been ruined by sin and death. The fabric torn and stained…and his heart broken. Rather than throw the fabric out…he takes his needle and thread, then takes himself and weaves his life into the story…making himself like the threads that he loves to knit them back together.

Adding to our questions. What does your life so far reflect that you want?

And Overcomes Obstacles

A character, who wants something and overcomes obstacles...

Ever notice, this is what makes a movie worth watching?

Imagine in Saving Private Ryan if they showed up to go find Ryan to get him home to his mom who lost her other sons to the war, and after walking in the first 100 feet, Ryan comes walking toward them out of a building where he was hiding.

None of the sacrifices would have been made.

No shots fired.

No drama

15 minute movie.

No five academy awards

Oh…That movie hit me…I remember looking around the room after the credits rolled and seeing old men being held by their wives for comfort. They remembered. They had seed sacrifice.

But that wasn’t what I laid awake thinking about.

I kept coming back to Jesus. The men who kept moving, kept fighting, kept dying to save this one man, so his mom wouldn’t lose her last son…I saw Jesus in them.

I remember being struck anew at the depth of the fathers love revealed not simply that he came…but he came knowing it was to suffer.

Isaiah 53:3-5 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.”

Do you know how loved your thread is by the weaver?

so deeply that he wove himself into the story, he took the stains of sin upon himself and the tension of the tear became his to bear.

I cried when Aslan dies in Eustace’s place in the Lion the Witch and Wardrobe.

I cried when Tony Stark gives his life to save his friends in Avengers Endgame, These stories make me cry because they point to a story that is real! All great stories do.

The ultimate character, wanted the ultimate prize and paid the ultimate price. That’s a story.

Jesus tells his disciples that there will be obstacles for them too.

John 16:33 “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.””

Echoes of Joshua…In this world you will have suffering…what is that surrounded by? In me you may have peace on the front, and Be courageous at the end. Be strong and courageous, The Lord your God is with you.

Stories matter more than ideas.

What has the pursuit of eternal things cost you? Where has it hurt? Add that to your questions to think about.

No one should go looking for trouble…but If we want something that matters…what are we willing to go through? If an obstacle stops you from what you want most…maybe you didn’t want it as much as you think you did.

Last week we discussed the epidemic of people who don’t believe their lives matter, who choose to isolate and distract themselves. A story that matters will have obstacles…it will have pain.

Maybe the problem though isn’t the pain. Maybe it comes down to not seeing the pain as worth the cost.

We haven’t found something we want badly enough to make the pain worth the fight.

Paul writes to his son in the faith Timothy with some tough words:

2 Timothy 3:10-12 “But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

So why did Paul do it? Go back to a verse I’ve gone to over and over...

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.”

Paul says, what else can I do?! I’ve experienced the love and grace of Jesus who died for all! Having been saved by that Grace, how can I not live for the one who died and was raised? How can I not be filled with love for those he loves? How can I not pay every price necessary?

To Get It

A good story has a character who wants something and overcomes obstacles to get it.

God is the ultimate character, with the ultimate desire, and overcame the ultimate obstacle to get it. The creator of heaven and earth made mankind in his image, to be his ruling parnters in this world. We betrayed and rejected him. His love moved him to never give up on restoration and the story of scripture is him overcoming every obstacle we put in his way until in Jesus Christ he places himself among our threads and overcame sin and death at the cross where he was killed, buried and then in power resurrected that we might have mercy and grace, and life in and through him.

In our stories we have lots of little “got it” moments. We may get new floors. When I mow the lawn I want something, and overcome obstacles, and I get what I wanted…a nicely mown yard. But the ultimate “got it” isn’t here. Our lives point toward eternity, David says in the psalms:

Psalm 27:4 “I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple.”

And seeking that, we find our story along the way.

My Story and Their Story

In the beginning of Donald miller’s journey toward living a better story, he heard them say:

“In a pure story, there is a purpose in every scene, in every line of dialogue, A movie is going somewhere”

He wrote:

“That last line rang in my ear like an accusation.”

They could see he was upset and explained:

...”We just want to take the basic events of your life and shape them around a structure that makes sense.”

How often does our life not make sense?

Miller’s story about finding a story is pretty good. And downright convicting. Here’s the thing...

You don’t have to search for a story that makes sense You are being invited in to one. Listen to this:

In Matthew 9, Jesus has been going to all the towns and villages teaching, preaching, and healing. He looks around at one point.

Matthew 9:36 “When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.”

He sees what? They were distressed…dejected…sheep without a shepherd…sounds like they were aimless…there is a misery in not knowing what your story is about. There is a hopelessness in living a life that is only for you. Jesus sees them and what? HAS Compassion!

So what does he do? What does Jesus do to care for these aimless and distressed people all around him!?

Matthew 9:37-38 “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.””

He invites his followers to be a part of the story that matters. He says look at the harvest! But more workers are needed. So pray to the Lord of the harvest for him to send the workers.

Your best story comes when it is aligned with…woven into…His story. When God’s story becomes your story. When your goals align with his goals, when what you want is what he wants, when in his power obstacles are overcome and when the lost are saved, the poor are fed, the broken are restored and the wounded are healed you will find yourself living a story beyond imagination and one that matters.

God is the weaver creating the story…our threads matter in that. It matters to the world that our story is woven into his. Not just believing in God, believing in Jesus, but becoming a part of his narrative to restore this world.

worship team up

To Do: What is My Story About? Biblical Storytelling

We’ll dive deeper as we go forward, next week we will see the way God weaves us together in this story…We aren’t on our own. But for today, you have some questions. Answer those. Let yourself be challenged…wherever you are at in your journey to let God take you deeper. But let me ask you to DO one more thing.

Father’s day 2021 Monica bought her dad a unique gift that’s proven to be a gift to all of us...

He realized that his story couldn’t be told without God’s and framed the book that way.

page 9-10

Psalm 78:4 CSB

We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, his might, and the wondrous works he has performed.

You may never sit down to write our your life. But I’m going to ask you to do one story.

Grab a piece of paper, or take out the notes app on your phone and after I pray, you’ll have a minute to jot this down: write down one moment, one choice in your life where you chose to align your story with God’s and it changed you. (Pray) put that down…now…another part to this…I’m going to pray again, and then I want you to write down the name of one person you could tell that story to that needs to hear it, whose life might be changed by hearing about the God that changed your story. And before you leave today, I want you to share at least the intro to that story and who you are going to share it with with someone here who can then ask you next week about how it went.(Pray) moment of music (Pray) (Prayer teams) closing song