Unleashed and Exposed: The Canaanite Within

Has anyone seen that video before?

That video is trending now on social media.

It's got more than 13 million views all around the world.

It's touched a real chord with a lot of people.

And I think in a society where we've said that the Bible's view of sin,

the Bible's view of morality doesn't count,

and it's primitive, it's restrictive, it's hypocritical.

And when you even look in the passage like today,

and you see so much violence and sexism and just terrible, terrible things,

it seems justified for the culture to say,

well, we don't want to listen to the Bible's view of right and wrong.

And we define what right and wrong says ourselves according to our cultural values,

whether that's Eastern or whether that's Western.

And yet our culture, as the video shows, is actually dripping with shame.

It is filled, in Chinese culture we call it saving face.

And that's a technical way of saying applying makeup to cover up your shame.

And as I look in this passage,

to be honest, this is one of the,

I think this is the most grotesque passage in the whole Bible.

I really, I don't want to preach on this,

but actually, if you're new here today,

I'm sorry you came for this one.

Like, maybe you can go away to Starbucks and come back next week.

But we're, I mean, this is a disturbing, disturbing passage.

Let's just be real, let's just be honest.

It really is sick, I think, in many ways.

But the reason why we go through the Bible

is because these passages,

I don't think are irrelevant to our culture.

I think they are totally relevant.

And I think this passage has got something very powerful

that every one of us needs to hear in the 21st century.

We've been looking through this series in the book of Judges.

Judges is a dark book,

but it's a book where the basic premise

is that God has called his people to be a holy people,

to be living in his light,

reflecting him to the nations around.

And yet the people of God have turned away from him

and they have chosen to follow all the idols

of everybody else around them.

And as they have followed the idols,

then they have become more and more like the people around them.

And the phrase that you see at the beginning of the passage is,

in those days, there was no king in Israel.

Well, there was a king, which was God,

but they rejected him.

And you know, when you turn away from God,

when you put anything above God,

you don't turn to nothing.

You turn to the idols of those around you.

What everybody else worships,

that's what you turn to.

And that's what the Israelites turned to.

And the light that they were meant to be

had grown dimmer and dimmer

until it had just gone dark.

And we're going to look through this story.

And I know for some of you,

this is going to be,

this is a tough, tough story.

But we're going to look through at it.

And then I want to just bring out three things.

I want to talk about how other people's sin

dehumanizes us, devalues us.

How our sin dehumanizes us.

And our need for a savior,

for cleansing in this.

So let's, if you've got your bulletin in front of you,

let's just walk through this story

as well as we can.

Because the story starts with a Levite.

And Levites were the priests.

They were the religious people.

They were the pastors in the society.

And this pastor, this priest, this Levite,

he has a concubine,

which is basically a second wife.

But a wife who has little value.

A wife who is just there for sex,

having kids,

and maybe looking after

some of the extra household jobs

that need doing.

And we don't know where his first wife had got to,

but it's obvious that things are not going

pretty well with their relationship

because the concubine runs away.

And she runs back to her father.

And four months later,

the Levite comes.

And he comes back to the house.

Maybe he's missing the sex.

Maybe he's just finding,

oh, there's too much jobs around the house to do.

But four months later,

he comes back.

And he comes to the dad's home.

And he stays.

And the father of this concubine

does over-the-top hospitality.

And he stays three nights.

And then after three nights,

the Levite's thinking,

I've got to go.

But he said,

oh, just have another drink.

Just have some more food.

You know, it's a bit like

going to your relatives.

You know, and they're there like,

we've just cooked this for you.

You're trying to get out of the door.

But they still insist.

And he does this for another day.

He stays on.

And finally,

he puts his foot down

and says,

no, we've got to go.

We've got to go back.

So they started heading off.

And it's beginning to get dark.

And the servant says,

well, it's getting dark.

Why don't we go and stay

in the city over there?

That city is called Jabus.

It's a city which is filled

with Canaanites

who are the enemies of God.

And the Levite naturally says,

you've got to be joking.

It's a city of foreigners.

We're not going to stay in there.

It's a bit like

in the Second World War

if you're a Chinese guy

and you suggest to them,

okay,

why don't you go and stay

in that Japanese hostel?

You know,

it's not going to happen.

That's the feeling

that they would have.

And so they move on

to the Israelite town of Gibeah.

And they walk in

and they go in

and they sit down in the square.

And when you sit down in the square,

it's a sign

that you want somewhere to stay.

It's a bit like

going into a hotel lobby

and just waiting

at the check-in desk.

You know,

it's clear

that you want to stay.

But nobody

comes to serve you.

That would be weird

in our culture.

In their culture,

it was incredibly weird

because you see

how the Father

shows incredible hospitality.

Hospitality

was one of the ways

that you showed

your honor

in the society.

But this is a place

which seems to have

no honor

and is shaming

these people.

But just when

they're giving up hope,

the Levite,

then suddenly

this old guy,

an immigrant to the town

from their area,

comes along.

He's an old farmer,

comes down,

sees them,

takes pity on them,

says,

hey,

you can come back

to my place.

And then he says

this very chilling phrase.

He says,

only do not spend

the night

in the square.

You know,

don't stay

in the hotel lobby.

You know,

you can see

if it was a movie

that the music

would start playing

in the background.

But then the man

carries on as normally,

brings him back.

They have the equivalent

of a shower.

They're enjoying themselves.

There's food,

there's drink,

and then there's

this knock at the door.

And the knock

gets louder

and louder

and louder.

And they hear voices

shouting outside

saying,

bring out the guy

inside there,

we want to have

sex with him.

That's what the word

no means

in Hebrew.

And

the farmer

is shocked

because the social

norms of the day

told him

that if you have

a male guest

in your house,

it is your honor

to look after him.

You protect him

with your life

because

if he allowed

anything to happen

to him,

his reputation

was on the line.

The whole of his

family would be

shamed.

And so he goes out

to try and bargain

with these guys.

And they're crowding

up around him.

And he goes to them

and he says,

well,

just have my daughter,

have my concubine,

his concubine,

have anything

but save this man,

protect this man

because in that society,

the rape of a man

was more dishonorable

than the rape of a woman.

That's what society said.

And so

they don't seem

to listen to this.

They're insistent.

They're determined.

They're wild.

And so the Levite

who's inside

is hearing this.

He sees like

he is right,

they're heading

right for him.

So what does he do?

In terror,

he takes his concubine,

throws her out of the door,

brings the host

back inside,

slams the door

and breathes

a sigh of relief.

At least I'm safe.

What about the concubine?

You see,

that seems to satisfy

the men.

The concubine

has a night

of horrific torture.

I mean horrific.

When she gets back

in the morning,

she's half dead.

She's so broken,

so damaged

that she collapses

in front of the door.

She can't even

open the door.

Handle.

The narrator

switches back

to the Levite.

What's he been doing

all night?

Has he been fretting

about what's happening

to his concubine?

Has he been pacing

up and down,

regretting what he'd done?

Not at all.

You see,

it says,

when he rose up

in the morning

and opened the doors

of his house

to go on his way,

in other words,

he's had a good night's sleep.

He was about to carry on

just as normal,

as if nothing had happened.

Maybe I'll have

a bit of breakfast.

And then he opens

the door,

and what does he see?

He sees his concubine

there lying

in the way.

And like a dog,

he says,

get up.

Let's go on the way.

There's no sound.

So he picks her up,

presumably puts her

on a donkey

like a sack of potatoes,

takes her back

to his hometown.

We don't yet know

whether she's dead or not.

The author deliberately

leaves it vague.

And he's angry.

He's brooding

on what has happened to him.

He's angry

because he's lost

maybe his chance

for sex here.

He's angry

because of the way

he's been treated

in this.

And so he hatches

a plan for revenge.

And he uses

a known shock tactic

of the time.

Because if you want

to gather people

together for a fight,

you shock them

into coming.

And what he does,

what people would normally do,

they take an animal

and they would cut them up

and they would send them around

and say,

look at what has happened.

You need to come here.

We need to deal with this.

King Saul does this

later on in 1 Samuel.

But this is not an animal.

This is his concubine

that he cuts up.

And the tactic works

because everybody

is shocked

out of their minds.

They cannot believe

that this is happening.

Never before,

they say,

such a thing

has never happened

or been seen

from the day

that the people of Israel

came up

out of the land of Egypt

until this day.

This is the Levites'

call for revenge.

How do you feel

about that story?

It's quite shocking,

isn't it?

It's quite sick.

And can you believe

that actually

the Bible,

which is supposed

to be God's word,

has a story

like this in it?

I don't know

if you've ever watched

one of those movies

where you,

you know,

you see the baddie

and you just want

the bad guy

to die.

Have you ever

got to that point?

You know,

it's,

I don't know,

Lord Voldemort

in Harry Potter

and you know,

when it gets to the end

and he's about to die

and you're going,

yes!

Because,

and maybe sometimes

that kind of shows you

a little bit

about yourself,

but,

but we get angry

when we see evil

and abuse

and this story

is written

to make you angry.

It's written

to leave you disgusted

with the level

of depravity

of how sin

can lead you into.

That's the purpose.

They don't have 3D

but he uses

this shocking image.

It's meant

to leave you

crying out,

seeing how low

Israel has gone

and how much

they need a saviour.

That's the point

of this story.

And it's interesting

because the incident

mirrors exactly

what happens

in the book of Genesis

in the town of Sodom.

Sodom was a pagan city

and there again

they had almost

exactly the same incident

where a group of men

want to rape

a couple of

male angelic visitors.

And the story,

the narrator uses

exactly the same

number of words.

It's deliberate

because what he's saying is

Sodom,

which was a pagan city,

was exactly like

or rather

Israel,

which is meant

to be the people

of God,

is exactly like

the Canaanites.

Exactly the same.

Canaan

has become

into the hearts

of Israel.

They've rejected God,

they've put other

things above him

and now they look

like everybody else.

you know,

because the Canaanites,

their lust

reflected the gods

that they worship.

They worship gods

of violence and sex.

And the gods

that you worship

will be reflected.

You become like

what you worship.

You image

what you worship.

Someone put it

like this,

God's people

are their own

worst enemies.

It's not the enemies

outside who threaten

the soul,

but the Canaanite

within.

You become like

what you worship.

So what do we learn?

What do we learn

from this story?

Here's our three things

that we're going to learn.

First of all,

other people's

idolatry and sin

dehumanizes us.

And I realize

this is going to be

difficult for some of us.

We've had a spate

of babies born

in our congregation.

And you know

when you see

a mother

or a father

doting over

their child

and everyone else

comes and says

oh, who do they look like?

Do they look like

the father?

Okay.

Is it, oh,

he's got the father's eyes,

he's got the mother's nose,

got the grandfather's

nasal hair,

something like that.

And they look at it

and your appearance

is directly,

and this is very

unfortunate for some of us,

shaped by your parents.

Right?

Now, if you are born

in the royal family,

you're Kate Middleton's

whatever son,

I've lost track

of the gossip,

or Prince William

or Prince Harry,

you have an identity

which is shaped

by your heritage.

You're valuable.

Now, what the Bible

says about us,

what God says is,

unlike normal parents,

we have been created

by our father

who's the king

of the universe

in his image.

What that means is

we have dignity,

value, and worth

because you are

uniquely stamped

with the fingerprints

of a loving,

beautiful, glorious God.

You are beautiful,

what the video said,

you're beautiful

because you are made

in the image

of a beautiful God.

You see,

you have got serious

street value.

Jack Ma can't afford you.

Li Ka Shing

can't buy shares in you.

Tao Bao cannot sell you.

Christie's cannot auction you.

The stock market

cannot trade you

because you're priceless,

because you're made

in the image

of a glorious God.

God.

That's what the Bible

says.

That's where your value

comes from.

So why do we feel angry

when we see people

abused and mistreated?

It's because you know

that beneath the surface

there is something

of intricate,

infinite worth

and value

about people.

It's because you're made

in the image

of a glorious God.

That's where your value

comes from.

But in this society,

in this passage,

the Canaanites

and therefore the Israelites

had replaced

the image of God

for other images.

And I think our society

does exactly the same.

And if you kick God

out of the picture,

then where does your worth

and value come from?

Think about it.

If you're just

a bunch of chemicals,

the result of millions

of years of evolution,

then you have no other

intrinsic worth

other than what other

people say about you

or what you say

about yourself.

And if culture

and culture's idols

say this is what

is valuable

and you don't meet

the standard

of what is valuable,

then you're treated

as worthless.

And you live in shame

like many of those people

in the video.

But if you do meet

the standard

of beauty

or whatever it is,

then you'll look down

on other people

who don't meet

that standard.

Because,

did you see

at the end of the video,

do you see it says,

she said,

don't let anyone

tell you,

you're beautiful,

don't let anyone

tell you differently,

not even yourself.

Did you read that?

Because those

are the two criteria

that our society

judges people by.

It's yourself

and what other people

say about you.

And she is appealing

for something more

than that,

but she doesn't tell

you where it is.

The Bible does.

And in this story,

this is precisely

what is going on.

The concubine

is being judged

by the standards

of the day

which said women

are inferior,

they aren't worth

as much,

they're just sex objects,

they're there

to provide men

what they want,

they're worth

very little.

That's why the host

is willing to sacrifice

his daughter.

And the concubine,

they are shamed

and dehumanized

because they have

removed that sense

of the image of God.

And we think

in our kind of

very enlightened

21st century minds,

how barbaric is that?

We are so much better,

we've overturned

so many prejudices,

aren't we great?

But think about

the idols in our society.

How are we valued?

How are we

and who do we devalue?

How are we?

The video shows you

one of the big idols.

Physical appearance

is such a massive idol

in our culture.

You look at every advert around.

You know,

I watch

rational,

sensible

men

and women

who are terrified

to leave their flat

because a pimple

comes on their face.

I see parents

telling their grown-up children

who have just about

got enough flesh

to hold their bones together

that they're fat.

And that defines you.

I see grown men

at the gym

spending more time

looking in the mirror

just to see

whether the bicep grows

as you look at it.

And I do it myself,

although I have to look

a little longer

because I've got to

find the muscles.

But,

you know,

you look at a group photo

and what is your first thing

you've got to look for?

You look for yourself.

What's the first thing you think?

Do I look okay?

Right?

If you do,

if you're looking a little cute,

sexy,

you know,

wow,

you feel worth something.

You feel valuable.

But if you just got

the wrong side of you,

you know,

you look a little fatter,

your nose is a little longer,

are you going to show that

to all your friends

and say,

here's my latest photo?

No,

because if we don't meet up

to the standard we set ourselves

and society sets us,

then we feel inadequate,

shamed,

worthless.

We don't want to come out.

That's the idol of appearance

because our worth is assessed

in how you look.

One pimple

and you're gone.

We're shamed.

But it's not just

physical appearance.

We also have the idol

of social appearance.

Chinese culture

calls it face.

But I was sitting

in a restaurant

a while back

and there was a boy

and his mother

sitting there

and the boy reached over

to try and grab the menu

and as he did,

he grabbed the menu,

he knocked a cup

off the table

and it went flying,

smashing on the ground.

For the next two minutes,

his mother

laid into him

and said,

you're useless.

Can't you do anything right?

Why can't you do

what I tell you to do?

She said,

you're so stupid.

Aren't you worth anything?

And the boy protested

that it was an accident

that he'd done

but his mother

continued

criticizing,

cutting him down

until the boy

went quiet.

That mother

had dehumanized

her son.

Someone made

in the image of God

and had said,

your value

is found

in your good behavior.

Your value

is found

in getting things right.

Your value

is found

in making me

look like a good mother.

Because that's

the idol

of social appearance.

And many of us

carry around

the shame

of being

dehumanized,

devalued

by the comments

of others,

by the abuse,

whether physical,

whether verbal,

whether sexual,

whether any of these things.

And it makes us feel

like nothing.

Because we are shamed

by other people.

Ignored,

criticized,

judged.

And the problem

with this

is that

that's why

we're workaholics.

that's why

we're perfectionists.

Because all of our work,

all of our sense

of trying to achieve

and get success,

so much of that

is just plastering

makeup on us,

on our souls,

because we're trying

to cover the sense

of inadequacy

we feel

in so many parts

of our lives.

Because if I get success

in that,

then maybe people

won't see

what really is going

on inside.

Because how you appear

in our culture

determines your value.

sin

and it leaves us

dehumanized,

shamed,

devalued.

But it's not just

other people

who put that shame

onto us

and we live with.

It's also our own sin

and this is the second point.

Our own sin

dehumanizes us.

You see,

you look at the Levite.

he's a religious man

supposed to be

looking after

caring for his wife.

But what he does,

he treats her

like an animal.

And as he treats her

in that way,

he becomes

like an animal.

You know,

that's what,

if it was in the newspapers,

he'd be called a monster,

a beast,

an animal.

Why?

Because in some way,

his humanity

has become disfigured

and distorted

from what it's meant to be.

And

what you see

in this story

is that

he's no longer

reflecting the image of God.

You know,

you know Lord of the Rings.

There's a character

called Gollum.

Gollum was once

a river hobbit

until one day

he saw

and found

a ring of power.

And as he got hold

of that ring of power,

his quest

to keep hold of it,

his precious,

began to twist

and began to warp

and began to distort him

until he became

this pale,

kind of

weedy figure.

You know the story.

And

he's barely recognizable

as a hobbit

in the end.

Yeah?

All he can think about

is his precious.

If he can get his precious,

that's everything.

But you look at him

and you have

pity upon him

because he's not

the hobbit

that he was meant to be.

That's what's happened

to the Levite.

He is no longer

that beautiful,

loving,

God-honoring

image of God.

And he cannot even

see his own

distortion

because he's angry

at everybody else's sin.

Can't even see his own.

Canaan has entered

his heart

and it's disfigured him.

And the point is this,

that

it's not just

other people

who devalue us.

It's our own

sinfulness

which devalues us.

And the thing is,

how do you,

and we feel shame

from these things,

but how do you actually

make yourself feel better

when you know

that you have sinned,

when you know

you've done these things?

How do you make yourself

feel better?

Well,

if you look down

on other people,

you can feel a little bit

better about yourself.

Right?

Because if you have

your standard

and you've met

your standard

and somebody else hasn't,

well at least

there's something

that I can be proud of.

And I just,

I feel this

and I'm going to be honest

with you,

I think this is,

this is so prevalent

in my heart

and in all of our hearts

that it actually keeps us

locked in

in this sense of shame.

You see,

I see a mainland mother

on the MTR

and her kids

are going crazy

and she's doing nothing

and what do I do

in my mind?

I say,

what kind of a mother are you?

Can't you have any discipline?

And I look down on her.

Someone made

in the image of God.

The other day,

a homeless guy

who I've said hi to

a few times

came up to me

and he said hi

and he came over

and shook my hand

like this

and as he came

and shook my hand,

I pulled my hand back

because I felt contaminated

as he did that.

I felt like

I didn't want to be touched

by this guy.

I'll be polite to him

but I didn't want

to be touched by him

but I went away

feeling ashamed of myself.

This man made

in the image of God

and I had treated him

like that.

You see,

that is the Levite in me.

That is Gollum in me.

That is the Canaanite in me

and I've stopped imaging

this glorious loving God

and I've become

by my own sin

disfigured

and it brings me shame.

I don't know how it works

for you.

How do you use your tongue?

Do you criticize

and point out

every mistake

that your spouse,

that your kids,

that your colleagues make?

Because every time

we do all of those things

we devalue people.

We value them

just based on

how good they are,

how well they can perform

and yet do we see people

made in the image

of a glorious God?

And we dehumanize ourselves

when we do that.

You know,

I could talk on and on

and we could talk about

how pornography,

we could talk about

how helpers are viewed,

we could talk about

your workplace

and how we are dehumanized

in the workplace,

we could do all of that.

But what this passage

is trying to do,

this is the heart of it,

it's trying to expose us

because we want to hide

and it's trying to bring us

out into the open

and say,

be real,

be real

and face your shame

and those things

inside of you.

Be real.

Some of you are offended

that I might even dare

to call us,

to call you

like one of the Levites.

But you know,

because you think,

I'm an okay person,

but now,

I am a nice,

middle-class Englishman.

I haven't raped anyone,

I haven't murdered anyone,

I haven't fiddled my taxes,

I haven't stolen paper clips

from the office,

I have a large amount

of watermark pens

at my home,

but that doesn't count.

But,

if you were to show

a video of my life,

every thought,

every word,

every action.

And,

that videotape,

somebody took

and said,

they're going to play it

in Times Square

in Causeway Bay tonight.

And they're going to invite

all my friends and family.

Do you know what?

I think I'd want to get

that tape back.

Do you know what?

Because,

could you stand

with the tape of your life

in front of people

and have nobody

getting angry at you

for the way that you

have behaved towards others?

Because I couldn't.

That is my shame.

That is where

I have been disfigured.

And I would want to

fast forward

large parts of that video.

This is heavy,

heavy stuff.

It's not kind of

nice, light,

fluffy,

fluffy

Bible.

But just as

the financial crisis

exposed

greed

and the hideous

nature of greed

in our society

which we had said

was okay,

so God wants

to use this passage

to expose

the shame

that is caused

by others

and is caused

by ourselves.

That disfigurement,

He wants to expose it

into the light

because He wants

to deal with it.

He wants to restore us

back to the image

that He made us.

someone once said

you can't deal,

the only issues

you can't deal

with in your life

are the ones

you deny.

The only issues

you can't deal

with in your life

are the ones

you deny.

Because we all,

if we are honest,

every single one

of us

in this room

has skeletons

in our closet.

And do you know

what we do?

We try and hide

the skeletons

and keep in front

of the door

so nobody else

will see that

there is a skeleton

in the door,

in the closet.

The problem with that

is the longer

you try and cover it up

there is always

going to be

a skeleton

in the closet.

It is only

as you begin

to open the closet

and allow the skeleton

to come out

that you can begin

to have a clean,

free closet

without shame,

without fear,

without having

to hide

any longer.

But if you keep

the closet door shut,

you will always

have a skeleton

haunting you,

enslaving you,

making you afraid

of what everyone else

will find out

about you.

No matter how much

makeup we try

and apply to our hearts

and our lives,

through our career success,

through our appearance,

through all these

different things,

you will never remove it.

Because when you are

alone in the room,

the makeup has come off.

So what is your shame?

What's your shame?

What is it that you

don't want anyone else

to know about?

What is it that you're

hiding?

Because God wants

to open the door

of your heart

to let the skeletons

out so he can

restore you

and remove

that shame

from our lives.

Other people's sin

dehumanizes us.

Our own sin

dehumanizes us.

It brings us shame.

It brings us inadequacy.

This passage is written

to show that we

need a savior.

We need cleansing

because we can't

do it ourselves.

So here's the last point.

In Jesus' day,

there was a group

of people

who were despised,

who were dripping,

culted with that same shame.

they were lepers.

They were disfigured.

They suffered

from a skin disease

which meant

that anyone

who touched them

would become unclean.

So everyone would,

in fear,

run away from them.

They had to walk.

If they walked

through the village,

they would have to shout,

unclean,

unclean,

so that everyone else

would go near them

and would not be contaminated.

They were shamed,

disfigured,

dehumanized

by the society.

Jesus came along.

One day,

one of these lepers

runs up to him,

falls on his knees,

begs him,

if you are willing,

Jesus,

you can make me clean.

Do you know

what Jesus does?

He doesn't say,

oh, be clean,

okay, now go off

and live a good life.

Do you know

what he does?

Mark 1 says this.

Jesus stretched

out his hand

and he touched

the man.

He touched him.

Nobody

had touched

that man

in years.

but Jesus

touched him

because he wanted

to restore

his humanity

to him

and in touching him,

do you know

what happened?

Jesus became

unclean.

He took

the uncleanness

on himself

and that man

went away

with a new humanity.

Jesus then said,

I'm willing

to make you clean.

Be clean.

And every single

one of us

are like those

lepers,

maybe from

other people's sin,

maybe from our own sin

who have got that shame

and Jesus

wants us to run

to him

to come

with our shame

and to say,

are you willing

to make me clean?

And Jesus

will not just say,

be clean,

but he wants to reach out

wherever that skeleton

in your closet is

and he wants

to touch you

and restore

your humanity.

If we keep

plastering makeup

on ourselves,

you know,

Gollum wearing makeup

is not a pretty sight.

God of creation

wants us

not to hide

any longer.

He wants us

to be a community

where we are not

looking down

on each other,

not devaluing each other

by your appearance,

by how good you are,

by all the things

that you've done,

but actually

I can come

to one or two people

and I can bear

my closet

before you

and you will not

judge me

because you look

at me and say,

made in the image

of God.

Jesus is the one

who's going

to restore you.

Let me point you

to him.

Because if the devil

comes to you

and whispers,

yeah,

but if you open

the closet,

what are people

going to think

of you?

What are people

going to say

about you?

And if you've

already confessed

it before God

and if you've

already confessed

it to one or two

people in this

congregation,

do you know what?

You would just say,

well,

I've got nothing

to hide.

The skeleton's out.

I don't have

to live in shame.

Do you see

how free that is?

That you don't

have to hold

behind trying

to keep the things

inside when God

can begin

to heal you.

This city

is a city

in your workplace,

in your family,

in your own hearts

where we're

dripping with shame.

It needs

us

to start

that process,

to be brave,

to take the initiative

like that lady

did in the movie.

But to see

that our hope

is that we have

a savior

who is so great

that he says,

you are worth

something

because you're

made in my image

and because I

reach down

to touch

and restore you.

That is the gospel.

That's the gospel

our city needs.

That says,

community we are

called to be

where we can be

open,

knowing that

we are loved,

we are valued,

we are worth

something.

That concubine

never knew it

because of the

idols

that were in

the society.

If we put

God first,

we can be

a light

that Israel

never was.

Let's pray.

I'd like you

just to be

very honest

with yourself

now.

We're very rarely

very honest.

but there's

not one person

in this room

who does not

have shame

from either

what others

have done

to you

or what you

yourself

have done.

What is

that thing

that you

do not want

anybody else

to know

about?

That's

your shame.

Jesus is

asking you

right now

to be real

with him,

to run

to him

with that

shame.

Just like

you just

to take a

minute just

to think

about that.

That Jesus

is here

wanting to

restore you

with a

freedom

that we

don't have

to hide

any longer.

just spend

a minute

with just

sharing your

heart to

God now.

Confess

to him.

Let him

touch you

and heal

you.

Amen.

statement.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Father, I want to pray for each one of us here.

Some of us have deep wounds from the past which we don't really want to face.

Some of us think we're okay.

We can't even see how we could ever be like the Levite.

But Lord, I pray that you would help us to be honest.

But not honest to condemn us, honest to free us.

Thank you that you do not judge us.

That you knew the depth of our hearts and yet you died on that cross.

You who were shameless.

You had no sin.

You were disfigured.

You were humiliated.

You were scorned and despised for us.

Because of our sin.

Because of our shame.

That we could be free.

Thank you.

I pray, Lord, that you would just do that deep work, Lord.

I pray for each one of us to have a boldness, Lord.

I pray that...

I pray, Lord, for those who here just want to keep it between you and them.

But actually, that fear will still grip them until they actually share it with somebody else.

I pray that you give them courage right now.

To think who they can actually go and share that shame with.

And I pray for that person that they would have that heart to see.

That you are the one who restores every shame.

That there's no shame too bad.

And even the Levite, if he turned to you, you would forgive.

And you would restore.

In spite of the horrific things.

That is offensive, Lord, to many of us.

But, Lord, that is...

We all need that.

Please, would you do your work in us.

Set us free.

Okay.

Okay.

I'm out.