I just heard.
They’re going to start movie number 4.
Most of the old gang is back, Keanu Reeves, Carrie Ann Moss, even one of
the Wachowski’s twins, the two siblings who created the first one. And nothing holds a candle to that first
one. Twenty years later, I still love that
movie, that movie that introduced us to the Matrix. I love it so much that I've even included a clip of one of my favorite scenes below. It's the scene with the red pill and the blue pill? Do you remember that? It's where the truth begins to come out.
Does anyone remember that movie? The story goes like this. These evil supercomputers have taken over the
world. They have put human beings into
this virtual reality world. That way,
they can use our bodies as batteries to keep up their evil computer ways, while
we don’t have a clue. So basically,
human beings have become horribly enslaved, but get this. They don’t know it.
But forget the plot.
The Wachowski twins, who made this film, wanted to make a deeper
point. They put all sorts of allusions to Christianity and Buddhism in the movie. Why?
They were floating a terrifying idea.
Maybe, this crazy story isn’t so crazy.
Maybe it’s already happening right now.
Maybe we are enslaved, and we don’t even know it.
I get that, because the Wachowski’s were right. Something has enslaved people. And for the most part, they, by which I mean
you and I too, don’t even realize it.
It’s not some supercomputer enslaving us, okay, well maybe a bit (as I
check my smartphone for the hundredth time today) but that’s not what I’m
talking about. No, our smartphone
addiction is only a symptom of the slavery.
The slavery goes deeper than that.
But everyone has a path to freedom.
And what is it that sets you free?
In these words, God shows you the way.
Let’s listen and hear what God has to say.
Does it make any
sense? Here you are sitting probably somewhere reading this, but if you
wanted to, you could just walk right out of wherever you are, and do pretty much anything
else. You could go see a movie. You could catch a flight to almost anywhere
in the world. You could grab a bite to
eat somewhere or just head home. So
how could you be a slave? That doesn’t
make any sense does it?
Have you ever heard of
the HBO show, Succession? The second
season started a few weeks ago. It tells the story of this super rich family, who
own this massive entertainment comglomerate, Waystar. At the
heart of the show, you find the man who made the company, Logan Roy, their
dad. As the second season opens, the
daughter is honeymooning on a yacht with her new husband. The
oldest son has gone to rehab again. But
then, Daddy calls. He’s not dying or anything.
He just wants to see them. And get
this. They all go, immediately. The daughter and her new hubby leave their
honeymoon. The son leaves rehab. Everyone of them drops everything to go see
Daddy. Now, if you’d ask these super
rich kids if they were slaves, they’d laugh.
They can do whatever they want, buy whatever they want, right? But when daddy calls, they come running. And trust me, they come more out of fear than
love. And if that isn’t slavery, what
is? And don’t think, the old man, Logan
isn’t a slave either. They come running
because he is deciding who will run his massive company. But here’s the kicker. Logan can’t let it go. Even when a stroke almost kills him, he still
can’t let it go. Logan Roy doesn’t own
the company. The company owns him.
Here’s the painful
truth. You don’t have to know you’re a
slave to be one. That’s exactly why the missionary Paul is
writing this letter to these Christians in Galatia. Years before he had come to them and shared the
Good News about Jesus. Now, like the
Roy family in that HBO show, these Galatians didn’t realize they were slaves,
at least, until they tasted a bit of what real freedom was like. But in this news about Jesus, that is what
they tasted, they tasted freedom. And
so, they came to believe. And as they
did, they become free. How does this
news about Jesus free them? How does it
free anyone? We’re going to get there,
but not yet.
First, we need to
understand how these Galatians were becoming slaves again. You see.
A group of so-called Christians had come to visit them. And they had said to them. It’s great that you have Jesus, but you need
something more. Jesus needs you to
abide by these rules, to do these rituals (that’s why Paul is talking about the
whole circumcision thing – it’s a religious ritual). Then and only then with these rules and
rituals will you be free. But what they
are saying, it’s a damned lie. And I’m
using that damn word in the right way. That lie won’t free them, it will condemn them. It will make them slaves. It will take away from the only thing that
will free them, that will free you.
And what is that? What is the only thing that will free them,
that will free you? In these words of
Paul’s, God tells you. What frees you
is faith working through love. To put it a little less poetically, what frees
you is believing the love. That’s the
good news of Jesus. We said it about
about 15 minutes ago, and we’ll say it again next week, and the week after
that. Why? Those words free you. What were the words? God loves you no matter
what. That’s the news Paul shared with the Galatians. That’s the news that freed them.
Now how do those words,
God loves you no matter what, free you.
It’s because that’s what you are always looking for in your life. You are always looking for the love. You are yearning for a love that will fill
you with a worth and value that nothing can ever take away.
But here’s the
problem. If you are not getting this
love in God, you are trying to find it in something else. But whatever that something is, it can’t
give you the love you seek. You might
tell yourself it can, but it can’t. And
because it can’t, it will enslave you.
Look at that Roy family
in the HBO show. Let’s say that what
these kids of the great Logan Roy are yearning for is his approval, the
validation of their kinda scary Dad. But
let’s say. They got it. Logan Roy said
to them all. Hey kids I love you. You are totally awesome just as you are. I’m selling the company. I’m giving you a nice billion or two. Now, go be free. Would they be free?
No. Whatever their dad said, however much money he
gave them, it wouldn’t be enough. They’d
need more. Their desire for that love,
your desire for that love, my desire for that love, it has no end. And nothing on this earth can ever fill
it.
Think about it. You might have great health, great kids, a
great family, a great spouse, a great job, great friends, financial security
but is it enough, really? In your most
honest moments, maybe when you are alone with yourself, don’t you still feel a
deep yearning for something more? Do
you ever think? Why isn’t this
enough? Or maybe you are still shooting
for those things, thinking when I have all of that, it will be enough. Trust me, it won’t be.
It’s not enough because
as much as you want it to be, you can’t count on it. You know.
It won’t always be there. You may
have an amazing spouse who loves you, but that doesn’t mean that love can’t go
away. If nothing else, at some point, death
will take it away. And that’s scary. Everything on this planet you turn to for
ultimate worth or value can’t give it to you. You name it.
Success, Health, Fame, Wealth, Relationships, Pleasure, the list goes
on. None of them will give you ultimate value.
Why? They’re not ultimate. And because they’re not ultimate, you will
fear, like nothing else, that awful day when whatever you look to for the love,
for the worth, for the validation goes away or fails you. And, that fear, that fear enslaves you.
But if you believe in the
love, if you trust that the infinite source of all life loves you without end,
without condition. If you believe that
this divine love even became a human being, even died for you to show you that
love, that frees you. Why? You
now have the ultimate love. You have a
love that does give you ultimate worth, that does give you ultimate value, that
nothing, not even death takes away.
You see, that’s what at
stake with these Galatians. These so-called Christians are leading them to
doubt that love. Now the Galatians are
thinking. God’s love can be taken
away. If I don’t abide by these rules,
if I don’t do these rituals, then the love goes. And so, their fear has returned. And with the fear comes the slavery. For when
you fear that the love can go, that it’s limited, you do whatever you can to
keep it, even if it means as Paul puts it, “devouring one another.” That’s why religious wars are usually the worst.
But when you know the
love has no limit, when you know the love has no end, when you know that
nothing, not even death, takes the love away from you. It frees you.
It frees you from the fear. It
frees you to love. It frees you to love
God. It frees you to love everyone like
never before. After all, you don’t need
to hoard the love or keep it to yourself.
God has an infinite supply, and God has given you the key to receive as
much as you want! How awesome is that!
And in that infinite,
unconditional love, you become free, really free. As Paul puts it, the law can no longer
subject you. Now Paul is talking here
about a particular type of law. But
trust me, if you don’t know the love of God, you have a law subjecting you
right now. Here’s a few….
If my friends or family
or spouse think I’m not worthy or valued, then I’m not.
If I don’t have success
in my career or financial security, if my marriage fails or my children mess
up, then what worth or value do I have?
Those are just a
couple. You can find yours. Just ask yourself, where is your fear? What do you fear losing the most or not ever
getting? Where do you think? If I lose this, I’ve lost everything? If I don’t have this, then nothing else
matters. That’s your law. Whatever your law is, it will subject you,
count on that. And the one thing, it
will never do? It will never give you
the love, the value, the worth you ultimately need. It will tell you it can, but it can’t.
But believing in this
love, that God loves you no matter what, that will. That love will free you. It will free you to love. It will free you to be loved. Why? Only this love is ultimate. Only this love is without end. And it will free you into a wondrous,
amazing, daunting adventure with God that will open you to become everything
you yearn to be, that God created you to be.
So, believe in the love. Trust in the love. Let this love free you. Let this love set you free.
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