Ctrl/Alt/Delight - The Afterlife

Well, my name is Greg. If we've never met, I

would love to meet you. Now is the time of the

service where we draw attention to praying for

our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is called

Greenbush. It is directly south of us. We've

broken it into 26 different blocks. I think there's

a, there we go, 26 different blocks. And then

on the back wall, it says prayer for Greenbush.

And each of those, that bottom row tells you

what the different borders are of each of the

26 regions. So if you're ever just like, oh,

hey, I want to go drive around or walk around

a spot after service today. We're going to do

something special in the lobby, but then you'll

also have the option of going on a prayer walk

if you'd like to. But we invite different people

up every week to pray for Greenbush because we

all have different things that are on our hearts,

different things that we remember to pray about.

And so we please welcome Marissa Cantu to pray

for Greenbush. I was trying to come in like I

was at a boxing event. The crowd goes wild. All

right. Well, we get the honor of praying for

our community. And I am praying for blocks 5

1⁄2 to 6th Avenue and 28th Street to about 30th

Street. And it's right at the light over here,

so it's literally you could walk over there.

It's a block over and like the three blocks that

way. A big Catholic church kind of surrounds

the area. There's a couple of Midwest Motors

right on 38th Street. And so then the rest of

it is just neighborhoods. And I do pray that

you get to go on a walk there. And as I was looking

at different ways to pray for our neighborhood

and blocks, there was this thing that I came

across online that's called Bless. So if we want

to bless our neighborhoods, it's praying for

their physical bodies, that they have good health.

praying for labor and work, praying for their

emotional well -being, their social wellness,

and their spiritual wellness. So that's something

super easy. It's called BLESS. Body, labor, emotional,

social, and spiritual well -being. And so just

join me as we pray for our block and our neighborhood

as a congregation and also pray that we be the

hands and feet to ever provide if there's a need.

Father God, we just... Pray for our community

that you've placed right across the street from

us. I lift up our neighbors, asking for your

peace to fill their homes and for safety in that

community. I pray that you bless their work,

strengthen their physical bodies. I pray for

their families, that you provide for their needs.

Help us to be a beacon of light in this community.

Help us to be kind. and supportive and compassionate

as a body of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. All right, like I said, good morning. My

name's Greg. If we've never met, we'd love to

meet you. Buy you a coffee sometime if you're

down for coffee or a soda. Whatever you enjoy,

we'd love to talk to you, get to know you a little

bit. We are in our third week of a series that

we're calling Control Alt Delight. I'm guessing

that most of us have used a computer. Some of

us might even use computers on a daily basis.

I remember, gosh, the first computer that I owned,

my grandmother helped me buy it. It was in my

dorm room at Judson College, now Judson University.

I remember the first laptop I bought myself.

I was working at Lone Star Steakhouse as a server,

you know? Anyone? Peanuts on the floor. I think

they were the peanuts on the floor originator,

maybe. But it was up near Chicago, off Randall

Road. And I made enough that I paid $1 ,400 for

a 10 -inch screen, a Toshiba satellite. It was

pretty sweet. Now, it's amazing to think about

how much computers cost now by comparison, because

that little thing was barely bigger than this.

And it cost, yeah, that's a ridiculous amount

of money to spend on something that did almost

nothing. But I'm guessing that most of us that

use computers have also had something freeze

up on us, and we've had to figure out how to

get it to stop being frozen. And at least on

a PC, one of the main things that you can do

is hit Control, Alt, Delete. We're talking about

this because for a lot of people, there's something

inside of Christianity in the formatting of the

faith that feels controlling, that feels like

it is freezing things up, and like it needs to

be deleted. So let's talk about it. A couple

weeks ago, we started with the topic of money,

how churches and religion can be controlling

about our finances, but God isn't trying to control

our money. God is asking us to be responsible

for our... own finances. That's all that churches

should ask, that whatever you've decided after

prayer and in your mind, that is what you are

committed to, not something that a church twists

your arm into giving. Pray, think, give. That's

it. Last week, Pastor Jen talked about relationships,

that the marriage isn't the only path. Sometimes

I think historically, people, churches have kind

of set it up like, oh, you have to be married

and you have to be in this kind of marriage.

But framing marriage, as the only choice diminishes

all the other kinds of relationships that we

have. There's a kind of belonging that we can

experience no matter what relationship path we

choose. Next week, we're going to talk about

letting go of the way that guilt and shame get

used to control us. But today, we're going to

talk about the afterlife. All right, so way back.

Way back before I was born, because as old as

I have gotten, I'm still not that old. 1973,

there was a movie called A Thief in the Night.

Show of hands if you've heard of A Thief in the

Night, the movie. Yes, okay. So we're talking

Midwest people over here, people that grew up

in the church. And this film was entireed on

location in Iowa, less than three hours from

here. So I don't know if maybe that's part of

the reason that some of us that grew up in the

church around here had heard of it, but it was

filmed near Des Moines. And I'm going to, oh,

you were in for a treat. I'm going to read to

you the entire Wikipedia plot synopsis of A Thief

in the Night. Everyone ready? Patty Myers awakens

to a radio broadcast announcing the disappearance

of millions around the world. The radio announcer

suggests that this might be the rapture of the

church spoken of in the Bible. Patty, a member

of a liberal church, finds that her husband,

a born -again Christian, has also disappeared.

The United Nations sets up an emergency government

system called the United Nations Imperium of

Total Emergency, or UNITE, and declares that

anyone who does not receive the mark of the beast,

identifying them as with UNITE, will be arrested.

Several flashbacks occur to times in Patty's

life before the rapture. The story begins with

Patty and her two friends who... All have different

destinies. Her friend Jenny considers Jesus Christ

her savior. Her other friend Diane is more worldly

minded. Patty considers herself a Christian because

she occasionally reads the Bible and goes to

church regularly. However, her pastor is shown

to be an unbeliever. She refuses to believe the

warnings of her friends and families that she

will go through the great tribulation if she

does not put her faith. In Christ. Meanwhile,

her husband has been attending another church

and has accepted Jesus. The next morning, Patty

awakens to find that her husband and millions

of others have suddenly disappeared. Patty's

conflicted. She refuses to trust Christ, yet

she also refuses to take the mark. She desperately

tries to avoid Unite and the mark, but is eventually

captured. She escapes. Remember, this is being

filmed near Des Moines. She escapes. But after

a chase, she is cornered by Unite on a bridge

and falls from the bridge to her death. Patty

awakens and realizes it has all been a dream.

She's relieved. But her relief is short -lived

when the radio announces that millions of people

have in fact disappeared. Horrified, Patty practically

searches for her husband, only to find he is

missing too. Patty realizes that the rapture

has actually occurred and she has been left.

You know the next word, right? Behind. I don't

think that I could exaggerate just how obsessed

so much of the American church was with the concept

of the rapture and tribulation for about 30 or

40 years. The concept was mostly formulated by

a guy, well, actually completely formulated and

then adopted by others, but formulated by a guy

named John Darby in the 1830s and 1840s. 70 years

later. In 1909, one of the most popular Bibles,

the Schofield Reference Bible, included Darby's

idea about the rapture and the tribulation, not

just in a side commentary, but in the Bible next

to the scriptures. In the 1920s, the Dallas Theological

Seminary started teaching generations of pastors

about... The rapture. In 1957, the president

of the seminary wrote a book called The Rapture

Question, but it was less of a question and more

of a conclusion. 20 years later, in 1978, Charles

Ryrie, and I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it,

R -Y -R -I -E, Ryrie, a strong believer in the

rapture and author of a book called Dispensational

Today, also included these ideas in his published

study Bible. shaping sermons preached in pulpits.

But it wasn't only in the pulpit. In 1970, a

man named Hal Lindsey wrote a book called The

Late Great Planet Earth, and it sold 10 million

copies in the first 10 years, 30 million total.

The idea of a rapture, of millions of people

being snatched up, became a part of American

church culture. But not just American church

culture, it became a part of social consciousness.

Fast forward to 1995, and the first of the Left

Behind books was published. The series would

go on to sell 80 million copies, including movies

and merchandise. We're talking about $1 .5 billion

in revenue. So how does one unweave an idea that

has been so purposefully sewn into the fabric

of our modern Christianity? Because today's scholars

and theologians have broadly discredited Darby's

ideas, not because we don't believe that Jesus

is going to return, but because the concept of

the rapture is a hodgepodge of verses that didn't

belong together. It's a conspiracy that sells

because nothing sells like Fear. So let's talk

about deleting a bad idea and delighting in the

Lord. Let's open up our Bibles. We're going to

Luke 13. Luke 13 is in what's called the New

Testament. It goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,

Acts. If you don't have a Bible, there's blue

ones on the table, and you can take one from

the bookshelf out in the lobby home if you'd

like it. Otherwise, download one from any of

the digital app stores. We're going to be in

Luke chapter 13, and we have a tradition when

Luke 13 · chapter mention

the scriptures are read in the context of the

sermon to give it our full attention. You can

do that any way you see fit, but if you'd like

to stand with me as you are able, you are welcome.

This is Luke 13, starting with verse 22. 13,

22. Jesus went through one town and village after

another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

And someone asked him, Lord, will only a few

be saved? And he said to them, strive to enter

through the narrow door. For many, I tell you,

will try to enter and will not be able. Once

the owner of the house has got up and shut the

door and you begin to stand outside and to knock

at the door saying, Lord, open to us. Then in

reply, he will say to you, I do not know where

you came from. Then you will begin to say, We

ate and drank with you, and you taught in our

streets. But he will say to you, I do not know

where you came from. Go away from me, all you

evildoers. There will be weeping and gnashing

of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob

and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and

you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come

from east and west, from north and south, and

take their places at the banquet in the kingdom

of God. Indeed, some are last who will be first.

Some are first, who will be last. Let us pray.

God of every tribe, every tongue, every color,

every nation, we thank you for the scriptures

that we still have them to read, that they have

persisted throughout the millennia. And I pray

that whatever we have to learn today, that you

would make it stick, that our faith would become

stronger, as we become more like your son, Jesus.

In your name. Amen. Thanks, y 'all. You can have

a seat. All right, so the first question that

we should ask is, what do they mean by saved?

When these Israelites come to Jesus, their brother

in nationality and ethnicity and location, and

said, will many be saved or only a few? What

do they mean by saved? First of all, in the Jewish

context, they're not talking. about heaven and

hell the way that much of modern Christianity

has described it, okay? They had a concept of

the afterlife, but it wasn't what modern Christians

might imagine. They're not talking about pearly

gates or the fires of hell, but they are thinking

of a kingdom that would last forever, that was

eternal. They're also thinking of how that kingdom

might begin now. how there might be something

that happens here on earth, that a Messiah might

come and overthrow the powers of this earth.

And they're asking whether later or now will

we all be in or will only a few be a part of

that kingdom. So this passage is kind of a two

-in -one. They're asking about eternity, but

they're also asking about today. Either way...

This is the pill that's hard to swallow. His

answer isn't easy to hear. There's not a lot

of comfort that he offers to them in that moment

when he gives the answer because he doesn't say

all of you automatically will experience that.

Actually, he warns them that they could end up

standing outside and seeing people that aren't

even a part of Israel welcomed in. It says from

the east and west, north and south. In other

words, what is that saying? Everywhere. Everyone

from everywhere is going to come here to be a

part of this kingdom. Now, each of the gospel

writers tend to have a theme that they're trying

to communicate. We didn't read from Matthew,

but in Matthew, Matthew's theme is this idea

that there is this diaspora, that there are tribes

of Israelites that have not yet come back and

experienced being part. of the homeland again.

And Matthew goes to great extents to show that

Jesus cares about these people that are lost,

that he has come first for the Israelite, he

says, and then for everybody else. But in Luke,

Luke's message, he writes it much later. Luke

is actually commissioned by someone that's probably

not Jewish to write the book of Luke. And so

Luke's emphasis is not the same as Matthew's.

Luke's emphasis... The main message is that Jesus

is making room for the outsider. Jesus wants

all of his people to know God fully. Of course,

he does not want anybody left out, but he also

wants them, the people that are talking to him

in the land in that moment, to understand that

their family name, their nationality, or where

they are from shouldn't cause them to take their

place in the kingdom for granted. That what might

happen later should not distract them from what

is happening right now. When you go to Matthew,

the example is how people came to him and said,

Lord, Lord. And he said, I did not know you.

And they said, what do you mean you didn't know

us? And he says, well, when I was in prison,

you didn't visit me. And when I needed water,

you did not give me something to drink. He connects

this idea that what you do here on earth. communicate

something about how you know me. It's not saying

that your works get you into heaven. It means

that you're paying attention to the kingdom here

on earth. Does that make sense? Either way, him

saying this to them in that moment probably sounded

scary to them. Now, I don't think that Jesus

uses heaven and hell to scare us into believing

in him, but I do think that there is a very narrow

place for this kind of confrontation. I think

Jesus uses this kind of argument wherever he

finds a sense of entitlement that has caused

people to think they should get what they want

automatically. I told this story years ago. So

maybe a handful of you have heard this before.

My dad will remember this. And I was probably,

I might have been a junior or senior in high

school. I don't know. What year do you get Letterman

jackets in high school? Do you all remember that?

So whatever year that was. back in the late 1900s.

I told my parents, I played tennis, and I was

like, I don't see a lot of tennis players walking

around with letterman jackets. And so I was like,

I would rather have something else. And so we

went through the mall, and I remember the name

of the, there was like a leather goods store,

and it had like lots of leather jackets, really

fancy ones. What? Yeah, Wilson's. Yeah, so Wilson's.

And I was like, well, let's go to Wilson's. Maybe,

could I get something from Wilson's instead?

And so I picked the most, what now would be considered

the most gaudy, six -color Bears leather jacket

that you could ever imagine. And I thought it

was sweet. The trouble is that we went, and they

let me be a part of choosing it before Christmas.

And so Christmas morning comes along, and I'd

been a little snot probably for a couple weeks.

And Christmas morning comes along, and we open

all the presents. Where's the jacket? I don't

know, Greg. You've had a pretty bad attitude.

What do you mean I've had a bad attitude? It's

Christmas. That's mine. You can't have a gift

and then not give it to me. There's something

that happens in us when we have something that

we think should be automatic. There's a sense

of entitlement that was in me. That needed to

be checked. I needed to be reminded what Christmas

was about. We need to be reminded sometimes what

the kingdom is about. Where our hearts should

be. Now, I think there's another important distinction

to be made here. Because I don't think that this

is the kind of confrontation that Jesus has for

everyone. I think that when you read the scriptures,

you see this happen. You particularly see it

happen with religious leaders or scholars or

people that might be experiencing or expressing

some kind of entitlement. But I do not think

that this is the way that Jesus expresses a call

to the kingdom or a sense of following him towards

everyone. Think about it like this. Okay, back

in my family, early 20s, not 1920s, in my early

20s. I don't remember what it was, but my mom

was joking with me. Well, I guess I'll write

you out of the will. And I was like, I'm fine.

And she said, well, I guess your sister will

get the antiques then. And I was like, yeah,

I'm good. Listen, you cannot fear someone into

something that they do not care about. You cannot

scare someone into something when they don't

think that it's there in the first place. You

cannot use a sense of fear of losing this if

they didn't know it was even an option. People

have no fear of not getting something they don't

believe is there in the first place. In Luke,

the outsiders, the non -Jews didn't know that

God had a kingdom. They didn't know that God

had a kingdom. So Jesus wasn't, no one should

bother trying to scare them into the kingdom

by saying, you might not get this. You might

end up in Gehenna. You might end up in the valley

of Himon, burning for all eternity. They had

no fear of that. It was not a concept that existed

for them. No, they are coming because Jesus is

drawing them in with hope and with love and with

delight. The thing that they wanted just as much

as anyone else was to not be oppressed, was to

not be ruled with an iron fist, was to believe

that someone, maybe a God, could love them no

matter what they had done. Today millions of

people keep hitting control alt delete on Christianity

and Jesus because there's too much fear coming

out of the Christian faith. We need to delight

in the person of Jesus. And we need to introduce

people to a Jesus that is delighted in them.

Not a Jesus just waiting to punish them if they

don't believe. We should ask ourselves, Does

God sound more like an abusive, manipulative

husband? Or does he sound like a God that is

love? Because when Christianity says, if you

don't believe in Jesus, he will punish you forever.

That sounds like control. When Christianity says,

if you were born in the wrong country and you

die having never heard of Jesus, he will punish

you forever. That sounds like control when Christianity

says if you were abused by Christians, hurt by

churches, manipulated by pastors, and come to

the natural conclusion that Jesus must not be

real because the real life examples you had were

abusive, God's going to punish you forever. That

sounds like control. And when we say if you care

for your neighbors, if you serve selflessly,

if you lift the poor from poverty and the endangered

from their danger, but you didn't do it because

you knew Jesus, God will punish you forever.

That sounds like control. That sounds more like

an abusive husband or a dictator that bombs countries

that won't do what they want them to do. Years

ago, I hit delete on believing in a version of

a God that sounds exactly like an abusive husband

or father. The kind of person that would kill

and hurt us if we don't fall in line. And instead,

I believe in a God that is willing to die for

us. Willing to be killed and hurt so that we

can fall in love. Jesus wants everyone from the

east and from the west, from the north and from

the south, and he does not want us, if we are

already here, to take for granted the kingdom

that we are in. He's longing for us not to fall

in line, but to fall in love. With the God that

is love. But there is no greater command than

this. To love the Lord your God with all your

heart, with all your soul, and with all your

strength. And the second command is like it.

To love your neighbor as you love yourself. So

many people that we know are so close to hit

and control, delete on all this altogether. And

maybe, maybe, just maybe, we can put aside using

a fear tactic and we can come with a love tactic.

I think people are tired of trying to fall in

line. And they need to meet the Jesus that delights

in them. Amen? Let us pray. God, the scriptures

are not always easy to understand because we

are living in 2026. Not decades, not centuries,

but millennia. from when they were said and when

they were written. And I pray that we come to

them with a sense of humility. The truth is that

I do not know exactly what happens after this

life, but my greatest hope is that we will get

to be with you. And I pray that we can carry,

that at least I will carry the sense of eternity

in the presence of your fullness of love, that

I can carry that with me each day in this life.

That I can be conscious of your kingdom here

in this place. And that that will cause me to

carry a sense of delight. Not a message of destruction.

I pray this church would exist to invite people

in to call prodigals home. To adopt the spiritually

homeless. to offer rest, a place to live and

work, and a great house because no one should

be left out. And I pray that in our lifetimes,

that we will see a strong and undeniable sense,

a shift from spiritual homelessness to a strong

sense of spiritual family. Not just in this church,

but in churches and in our cities, across our

region, our county, our state. It would emanate

out. You are the God that loves and that you

love us. You desire that none should perish,

but that all should have eternal life. Help us

be a beautiful part of that process. Amen.