Giving Up: Popularity with Pastor Ryan Braley

And that pretty blesses this morning.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, you can be seated.

Good morning, how's everyone doing?

Good, I'm gonna turn these babies on here.

There we go Powering on.

It's a good sermon.

I want to start with powering on.

Hey, happy Palm Sunday.

A couple quick announcements.

We're gonna have a new member class coming up on April 9th, and so if you're interested in all membership you're not like signing up on the dotted lines right then and there but if you want to know more about who we are as a body and who the staff are and things we think are you know important parts of what makes us who we are as a church, our mission and all those kinds of things, come and check it out.

You can talk to Kirsten Gill, you can call the office as we get you signed up and it's not long I think it's a couple like an hour and a half maybe as all we go.

I want to give you an idea of who we are.

So a new member class on April 9th.

You can sign up for that on the website too.

Or we also have our baptism class If you want to get your little one baptized, or even your bigger one or older one.

Or if you want to get baptized, we can baptize you as well.

Then that's on April 2nd.

So those are just, you know, a week apart from each other, so check the website for that as well.

Fair enough, hey.

Today's Palm Sunday and we're right at the end of our series called Giving Up.

We've been talking about all the things to give up in order to experience what I would call the good life or the abundant life, and Jesus has come, as we just heard, to give us life, and life to the full, this abundant life, which we'll talk about in a minute, and there oftentimes, are things that we're holding on to instead.

I've quoted this many times.

I love it.

Augustine says that God wants to give us so many good and wonderful things, but our hands are already too full, and so many times, faith is just a matter of like knowing what to let go or like cut out, or to like stop doing or to give up, but, like the abundant life, jesus has already brought it.

He says as much, and so it's up to us to kind of like let go of the things or give up the things that we don't need, to hang on to when we don't give us life.

Many times, as humans, we tend to cling to things that don't give us life and we think they will, but they really won't.

So we talked about giving up control.

I think it was one of them, was it Control?

Okay, good, I think I preached that sermon.

Good grief, giving up expectations, giving up superiority, giving up enemies—these are all things that are our part and parcel of faith, and today I want to talk about giving up popularity.

Are you with me?

Now I have a subtitle and, like I do here, it is.

This is what it.

This is my subtitle.

It's Tommy Hilfiger.

The crowds and how to be free sound.

Okay, years ago, not too long ago, but I was on sabbatical.

It was actually when I first well, seven, eight years ago, I was on a sabbatical and I got into this rhythm, this habit, where I'd come home and I'd go, you know like, in the mornings I'd go shopping for groceries, and I come home that night and you know everyone to be at work or at school, and I would make dinner.

Because I realized, in this moment, I bought a couple cookbooks and I realized I actually like making dinner, and so then the kids would come home and and they would eat it, of course, but I would.

Here's how I do it.

I would like get them.

You know we have this new record player and I loved I'm gonna turn this baby on.

I loved there you go, not spared.

I loved putting on a record and making dinner and so I put on this record and I got this record by Sam cook.

You probably know who Sam cook is and maybe you don't.

If you do, you better get to know Sam cook and I'd put on some Sam cook and I'd maybe pour a glass of wine or something like that, and and I would make dinner all with perfect.

Yes, you recognize the song nobody, okay, and I'd put on this album and I would make dinner and it would take me a long time.

So I make some kind of expensive or not expensive, some fancy meal, and also it's not a great cook yet, so it take me a long time to figure it out and the kids would come home and then I'll sit around and we'd put this on, we would dance a little bit here and there.

Katie come home and they would enjoy this nice meal and I loved it.

It was like, as I look back on my life, it was one of those things.

It's a good song, by the way.

It was one of those like I look back at it now and I stopped doing it at some point maybe I don't know maybe a few years ago, because I got too busy or whatever and I was thinking about.

I was talking with some friends not too long ago too and I was like, hey, what does it mean to live a good life?

Like, what is the good life?

In fact, I know it.

You know there's all these things way up here that we talk about.

What is the good life?

But what is an actual good life look like?

And I was thinking about a lot just myself.

And I realized, man, those nights when I would make dinner and my kids would come home and we put on this record, we would dance and sing and eat it together, it just like felt like such a good life.

Are you with me?

Maybe you have moments like that or something similar, where you're like, yeah, those were like vibrant life, or vibrant moments where, like, you just felt like alive or you fuck, everything was like in sync, around tune and your relationships were humming and good and it just felt good.

You know what I'm talking about.

Well, jesus, when he said in John 1010, I've come to give you life.

I'd play this all day if we could, but I'd better not, it'll be too distracting.

There's actually three kinds of life.

In the Greek there's three words for the word life that we all translate as life in English.

But in the Greek there's three words and here they are.

The first one is the word bios.

Everyone say bios.

You've heard of this word, I'm sure.

This just simply means physical life, like being alive, that you can walk around and move and talk.

Or plants have bios life.

The pet rock maybe doesn't have bios life we should tell Isabel at some point but things that are alive.

It just means you're alive, you have, your heart is pumping, your blood is moving.

That's bios life, and in the English we just call it life.

In the Greek they call it bios.

The second kind of life is this one, psyche.

Everyone say psyche.

You've probably heard of this word as well.

This simply means the soul, or your mind, your will, your emotions.

This part of it is like it's unseen.

You can't really see it, but you know it's there and it sort of operates in all kinds of ways in your life.

It's your psyche and we as humans have a psyche kind of life as well, and Jesus talked about this kind of life, but in our English language it's simply translated as life, the third kind of life, and this is the kind of life that is used in John 1010, we heard just Greta read.

It's the word Zoë life.

Everyone say Zoë, zoë.

Now let's say different kind of life.

This is not just life that you're alive and you can breathe and you have blood pumping in your body and your heart is going.

It's not just that, it's not just your mind, your will, your emotions, your soul.

It's not that either.

It's also not, contrary to popular Christian belief, it's not just life on a cloud after you die forever and ever, which sometimes gets depicted on hallmark cards or movies or those kinds of things.

In fact, it's not really about a sort of.

It's not really about life forever after you died, all Zoë life.

And when Jesus said hey, I've come to give you life, and life abundant Zoë life is this vibrant, full life in color, this deep quality, this meaningful, purposeful kind of life.

Does that make sense?

Jesus came to give us life, zoë life, this full life, dancing to Sam Cook, making dinner with your kids in the room, kind of life.

Now, I know that's not just the entirety of Zoë life, but I'm just saying for me, if I were to depict this moment and that's what it was like, it's like life in color, like things were your relationships are in sync, you're able to give and receive love fully and easily, and all sort of seems right with the world, something like that.

That's Zoë life, and Jesus came to give Zoë life.

And unfortunately, I think many of us don't live in tune with this Zoë kind of life, and part of the problem, I think at least, is that we do, in fact, cling onto all these things that don't give Zoë life and we think they will, and so really it's just a matter of Jesus being hey, put those down and come and follow me, let those things go and I'll give you real life.

That's what I'm here to do.

So it's just a matter of like, what are the things that are blocking us?

And I do think that popularity is one of those.

When I was in high school, all the cool kids, all the popular kids, all the rich kids in fact wore this brand of clothing.

You probably heard of it.

It's called Tommy Hill Figure still around, and in the 90s, tommy Hill Figure was like this icon of like Americana fashion.

It was like the it brand where I went to high school and I didn't notice it until I went into high school.

I'm like, all of a sudden I started noticing all like the little flags and like the little, like the little logo of the Tommy you know store.

I'm like what is that brand?

I've got to get me some of that brand.

But here's the problem it was super expensive.

I couldn't afford Tommy Hill Figure at all.

I couldn't do it.

We weren't really rich in so we couldn't afford it.

Until the day Castle Rock, colorado, opened its very first outlet store.

I mean, the boys like let's go, it was an hour away, we didn't care.

We got in the car, drove an hour south from Denver, from Aurora all to Castle Rock to go to this brand new outlet store and to load up or really to buy two Tommy Hill Figure shirts.

That's still all we could afford.

And, man, we got those shirts.

We rocked those bad boys for the next week in the halls of Smoky Hill High School and we were the baddest dudes in the hallways.

You know, you might have seen me in Smoky Hill High School if you were there in the 1990s and we were like we had arrived, we were one of the crowd, we were like one of the people, one of the guys.

There was one minor problem, though it was kind of funny.

They had to make sure these outlet malls that you know you couldn't take your outlet mall shirt back at like a regular store and get the money that you didn't pay for for it.

So they take a gold market and put a big slash through the tag on the back.

We called it the slash of shame, like that was an indicator you didn't really pay full price here at Tommy Hill very soon.

So we had to make sure the boys didn't see it, so you'd keep it tucked in and don't leave it laying on the bed so people could see this gold slash.

But we had arrived and maybe for you it wasn't Tommy Hill Figure, maybe for you it was like I don't know, jerbo jeans Okay, couple people.

Maybe it was.

I was told by some friends of mine who were in their sixties, like the, the, the, the Phara faucet bell bottom denims with the Nikes Couple people Okay, all right, fair enough.

Maybe it's the Lulu lemon sash bag that some of you youngsters wear Nobody in this room, maybe, maybe some.

Whatever, the thing is right, it's a symbol of status that you've made it, maybe of popularity, or you're like one of the like, one of the cool kids, or whatever the case would be.

Now, popularity is defined according to the Webster's dictionary as this I got a slide for me the state Mean girls.

Okay, A couple of you picked up on it.

Now Wait for the next slide.

It's defined as the state or condition of being like, admired or supported by many people.

This is what popularity is.

I define it simply as this here's the.

Here's how I define it the approval of the crowds.

This is the new mean girls, by the way.

That's like nobody, anybody.

Okay, a couple, all right, fair enough, olivia goes, ryan, we can't just show the old mean girls.

We got to be cool, we got to show the new mean girls too.

I go, fine, we'll put them both up there, but this is what popular.

Popular is the approval of the crowds.

Now, many people say things like this I don't really care if people like me, I don't really care if I'm popular, I don't care what other people think.

It's sort of cool or on trend to say this Now, like I don't really care Anything, but here's the reality.

That's wrong.

You do care, actually, and actually you probably should, because it's what keeps us from like, you know, picking our noses in class or in the boardroom or walking around the grocery store naked or something like that.

You know, maybe a couple of you might still do that, but anyway it like keeps you from being off the rails in sort of normative human society.

You know, we have a word for folks that aren't, that don't really care what people think we call them psychopaths or sociopaths.

We do actually care at least a little bit what people think.

That's kind of okay.

In fact, we're wired biologically to care what others think about us.

It's actually in our biology.

So they did some fMRI research and they showed that, after being rejected by peers, these studies show that individuals they this is part of their brain that begin to like this, like this really strong part of their brain begin to send signals to their body to like fix whatever caused them to be rejected by their peers.

So they would study these people who were rejected and this fMRI data would show that, like in the moment they were rejected, their brain would send a signal like warning them hey, fix whatever you just did, to get back into the herd because your survival depends on it.

And think about it.

It makes sense because way back in the days our bodies developed over times and over, you know, centuries.

Back in the day if you were excluded from the group, from the herd, it meant certain danger.

If there's a wooly mammoth chasing you, you're in big trouble.

If you weren't a part of the herd, I mean, I know I can wrestle a wooly mammoth, but some of you probably can't and so you'd be in big trouble if you got severed from the herd.

In fact our DNA also is impacted by this idea of being liked.

You know they show another study showed that about 40 minutes after being fired, after being teased, excluded and or dumped people in their body they had this dormant DNA that like sort of awoke after about you know a little bit of time, after 40 minutes, and woke up and became inflamed to sort of protect them from any further damage, even though they probably weren't any real kind of damage.

But it's this same kind of idea that being a part of the herd, being liked, being popular, being one of the crowd, actually sort of wired into our biology and into our bodies and into how we live.

So we're kind of wired in some ways, at least a little bit, to follow the herd.

So the next time you say to somebody, oh, a bunch of pathetic sheep following the herd, like, yeah, that's okay, we're all kind of a little bit that way, so just give them some grace, we're all a little bit that way.

But here's the problem Sometimes the herd is going the wrong direction and sometimes the crowd gets it wrong.

Sometimes the masses are doing things that maybe you shouldn't be doing.

Like you know, you've all seen that one YouTube video or Instagram video.

Maybe it was an old TV show, I don't know what you guys are into, but and back and like, you saw it and it was like the dumbest video you've ever seen.

But you look, it's like 50 million likes, it's like a lizard burping or something like that, and like 50 million people like that, this is the dumbest thing I've ever, wow.

Meanwhile, there's a great art being done on Instagram or TikTok or YouTube or whatever and like and nobody even sees it Like.

Well, sometimes the crowds get it wrong.

Same with music or other art forms.

There's times when the popular consensus sort of props up certain artists that make them appear better than they really are.

Exhibit A oh oh, I've upset you.

Oh, oh, you know it's true, they're overrated.

Come on, the crowds have turned on me.

Look out, I better be worth.

The new boy mammoths around.

I'm on my own up here.

Fine, the Beatles did change music.

I get it, but I don't like to listen.

I just don't like their music.

I respect them.

Okay, how about this one?

This is not Taylor Swift.

Anybody know who this is?

Okay, oh, thank you.

Just one person.

You guys can hang out with some younger people more often.

My daughter's love is Olivia Rodrigo.

Rodrigo, rodrigo, rodrigo, I don't get it.

I'm like God, girls.

I was going to take them to her concert, but I couldn't find tickets.

But anyway, I was like I don't get it.

I don't.

Mike Lauer, though, had to tell me because Mike Lauer knows music.

He's like Ryan, actually.

She's actually pretty good.

Okay, fine, fine, okay, one more, one more for the middle-aged people in the room.

Okay, a couple people.

Creed, if you know who Creed is.

Here's the point.

You're like what is the point of all these weird slides, right, sometimes?

David Bowie once said I have no idea who are going from here, but I promise it won't be boring.

Psychologically, we're wired to think, because the crowds like it or are gathered around it or show up, that it's good and meaningful and worthwhile, that somehow it's life.

But sometimes the crowds get it wrong and it's hard to go away from the herd sometimes, but maybe a gathering of people or a consensus of the crowd, of the populace, doesn't actually mean anything.

Maybe a crowd is gathered just because a crowd is gathered.

Sometimes a crowd just draws a crowd.

Maybe it doesn't really mean anything meaningful or important is going on.

One time, jesus draws this big crowd and John 6, and he tells him I love this line.

He goes you guys aren't here to seek me out, you're just here because I have food and you're hungry.

Oh, and which one?

Yeah, of course, where's the bread?

You know where is it.

It's wild.

Other times, though, jesus does draw a huge crowd because he's given this dynamic sermon on a mountain and people show up by the dozens, or maybe by the, we don't really know, but many people show it up when it means to heal people.

People who are in need of healing show up because they want to see what this guy's all about.

Sometimes a crowd indicates competency.

Sometimes it indicates they're just hungry, you're looking for food, and they all follow each other.

Sometimes the crowd means nothing.

Sometimes it means something that Palm Sunday Jesus shows up into Jerusalem, one of the most vibrant, thriving cities, of course, in the Jewish faith, that's occupied by the Roman imperial guard.

There's Romans everywhere and Romans knew military conquests, how they built their own city and became an empire through military might and conquest.

They were always on guard, watching for anybody to sort of uprise.

I mean they were always trying to squash rebellions.

Spartacus happened just a couple years prior, a couple decades earlier than Jesus.

They're used to this kind of squashing these rebellions.

Here comes Jesus, into the city and, by the way, the population had swelled.

There were all kinds of pilgrims who had come into town for that day, for the Passover festival, and they're all in town to celebrate Passover.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews were in town and this city that was maybe sometimes more often more quiet than not was now this bustling, frenzied place.

People everywhere and Jesus walks well on a donkey, rides into town and the crowds are going crazy and they're waving palm branches you already heard the story and they're crying out Hosanna, it's the son of David, hosanna.

You know what Hosanna means?

It means save us.

Save us from what?

If you're one of the Roman imperial guards watching, it's like you know what they're talking about.

It's a very political movement here and this scene is like the scene of a military general coming back into town after victory.

This whole thing would cause a lot of problems for Jesus and it does, in fact.

The Romans are watching.

The Jews love Jesus.

They're enthralled with his works, what he's doing.

They want him to be king.

They want to crown him right away.

They're throwing coach on the ground so you don't have to walk on him.

It's just a total move of like.

They love and adore Jesus.

He's their guy.

But you know crowds just a few days later they're crying out crucify him.

What happened?

One author, a pastor, writes.

I love how she writes.

She says this about.

It Says, as we read about the fickle crowds waving their palms and laying on their cloaks and shouting Hosanna in the highest, did the guy riding into Jerusalem on an unimpressive animal, friends?

She says I'm embarrassed about how sure they seem of themselves in the moment and how miserably they are about to fail when put to the test.

How quickly their shouts go from hail him to nail him Just a few days later, they're able to choose between Brabis, a well-known criminal, and Jesus, like they.

Let the crowds decide.

You pick.

Who do you want us to release?

This is the crowds, right, the crowds are always right.

To be liked is to be part of the crowd.

It's a good thing, right?

They cry Brabis, give us Brabis, release Brabis.

I'm powering off.

There goes the sermon.

What happened?

What happened Just a few days ago?

He was your king, hailed as the son of David, and now, all of a sudden, you want him crucified and you're crying crucify him, and let us have the criminal, let us have Brabis.

See crowds and popularity and being liked.

You probably know this if you're older than 15, they're a fickle beast.

Crowds can sway easily and be changed, and they have a mind of their own oftentimes and they go one direction and another direction for no simple reason oftentimes.

And the problem was the crowds wanted of Jesus what he wasn't ready to give them.

They wanted a certain kind of a Messiah, certain kind of a king.

He wasn't there to do that.

He was doing something entirely different, and so he goes outside of the popularity and, of course, the crowds turn on him.

Here's the thing.

The crowds weren't the problem any more than they are for us.

Crowds being liked, being popular, it's not a problem in and of itself.

The problem is what you are asked sometimes to sacrifice in order to keep the crowds happy, or you're asked to give up to keep the crowds coming back or to initially gather the crowds.

Churches have the same temptations as everybody else does.

How can we get more people in here?

What can we give the people to make them happy?

How can we make church a certain way to keep the people coming back and happy and well fed?

What do we have to do?

Back when me and Casey used to run our youth ministry, we used to say to ourselves if we really wanted to have a big crowd, we could give out free candy and have make out parties.

We didn't do that just so you know we're like yeah, just because you have a huge crowd doesn't mean anything sometimes.

Sometimes it does, and I hope that as central grows, if we grow, that it's because we're doing the right things the right way, not because we're giving stuff away or because we're trying to tickle the people's ears or whatever the case might be, because crowds are a thickle beast and approval popularity being liked feels good.

Biologically it feels good.

But here's the problem when we elevate, being popular or being liked or fitting in over and against everything else, it costs us something.

Here's the thing about Zoë life, this vibrant, full life that Jesus came to give in John 10, actually John 3.16 as well.

He can give you life, life of the fall, abundant life, freedom, liberty, friendships, relationships, a meal all this wonderful life, abundant life.

Also, there's this connotation in this life things are properly ordered, so you experience a fullness of life when things are in their proper order and, conversely, when things are out of order there's like this clogging up of this Zoë life.

I think of a picture of it out of order.

This is what non-Zoe life looks like.

Let that dynamic photo just resonate with you for a minute, mary.

Yeah, the good life, the life that abundant that Jesus came to give, is really about proper ordering.

And sometimes for us it's just about we have our lives out of order and you might feel it deep in your soul or in your psyche Like something's off.

If you elevate popularity or control or expectations or superiority or my enemies over and against the call of God in your life, it clogs things up.

Are you with me.

Here is a picture of a properly ordered life.

Oh, actually, hold on, yeah, great, stay there, peter.

This is what Jesus was saying.

Hey, seek first the kingdom of God and then things will be added to you as well.

Just a matter of ordering.

Now I think I have a picture of proper order.

Yeah, there we go.

How impressive is that slide?

This is why Jesus tells the rich young ruler hey, money itself isn't a problem, but when money becomes your thing, it's out of order and it clogs the Zoe life.

Jesus says, hey, go sell all your things and give it to the poor.

Why?

That's the thing that was clogging him up.

That was when he had elevated over the call of following Jesus.

That was his God, his idol.

Money is money.

It's not big, good or bad.

Popularity being, it's not good or bad.

But when you elevate it over and against right Family, good or bad, well, it depends on what order it takes in your life.

Jesus tells that one young follower who wants to follow him.

He's like I gotta bury my father.

Jesus tells him hey, let the dead bury their own dead.

Which sounds a bit callous if we're honest at first.

But why would he tell him that?

Because he's elevated his family, which I know in this country sounds like I'm being sacrilegious to degrade the family, and I love the family, but when the family takes priority, let the dead bury their own dead.

Sometimes our lives just get out of order.

It's not getting in the proper order to experience a full life See popularity and approval and being liked.

It's a shallow goal.

It's self-focused.

It makes the self big and makes our life really, really small.

What we need instead is a life of purpose and meaning and joy and goodness and new life, abundant life that Jesus came to give.

And then Jesus shows us what it looks like.

This abundant life.

It's other, focused.

It's a small self.

It's tying into a larger story, serving the world, loving your neighbor.

This is what it's like.

So I'll leave you with this.

Then we're gonna anoint you with oil, because this is what life looks like.

Jesus came to show us and give it to us, and he has.

He's already given it to us.

But sometimes, and for some of us, our hands are just too full of other things chasing control or popularity, or expectations or hate for my enemies, whatever the thing is, and it's time to let them go.

It's time to let them go To experience this life.

So we're gonna anoint you with oil and we're gonna say this wonderful phrase we do it every year on this Sunday.

We'll say something like may you know Christ and the power of his resurrection, may you share with him in his sufferings by becoming like him in his death.

Because that's it.

When we let go of all these things and give up all this stuff that doesn't bring us life, we can receive the life that Jesus came to give us and we can be baptized daily and we can confess our sins and we can make things right with our neighbors and we can serve and love and give and dance to Sam, cook and make dinner with our kids, and we can experience this Zoë life.

And here's the bottom line too.

The world will always, I feel like, push against some of this stuff, so crowds do.

So you have to find that.

You have to remind yourself again and again to let go or to opt out, because the world in general and that's what Jesus said a number of times is in bondage and going the wrong direction.

So I'm gonna leave with this Brennan Manning quote.

So what Brennan Manning says about the world the only way for a Christian to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that their very existence is an act of rebellion.

There's nothing more maddening than a free person.

I love that Central Lutheran church.

May you know that Jesus came to give you life, and life abundant.

The thief came to steal and to kill and destroy, but Jesus didn't.

He came to give you life.

And this Palm Sunday may you let go of all the things that inhibit you from living in tune with that life.

Just let him go.

It's time.

Let him go by the power of the spirit.

Let him go, and may you know Christ and the power of his resurrection and share with him in his suffering by becoming like him in his death.

Amen.