CAP Job Club Launch

Commissioning new VCUKI National Directors John and Debby Wright

Your God is too…

Our series: The God Jesus knew…

The process of spiritual formation is replacing destructive images and false narratives with the images and narratives that filled Jesus’ mind. Phil 2:5 …have the same mind set as Christ Jesus…

WHO’S PULLING YOUR STRINGS?

False narrative… God is mad at us because we sin. He’s disappointed with us because we displease him. Missing jigsaw piece – God’s love and generosity.

Subtle false narrative wrapped up in a half truth. God doesn’t want us to sin and does want us to do good. Doesn’t want us to sin: YES - BUT not because he’s cross and disappointed but because it harms us. Wants us to do good: YES – BUT not because it makes him like us more but because it blesses us and others.

Sin damages our heart – but when we talk about sin we must always talk about God’s love. But we get confused. We think we need to earn God’s love. Love and forgiveness become commodities traded for performance.

Deeply rooted in culture. Performing well is a way of getting results. Good behaviour pleases parents. Good performance pleases teachers. Good looks attract attention. These things can be used to manipulate.

We are daily judged on how we look, act, perform. Rejection, loneliness, isolation are consequences of failure to perform. Guilt, fear and shame become the primary motivators in our performance based culture.

This can be a dominant narrative in churches. God is good; you are bad; try harder. Evokes feelings of guilt, shame and fear. Efficient tools of manipulation to get people to shape up! But it’s false – and not what Jesus shows us.

Jesus’ narrative – the God Jesus knew.

Matthew 20: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon

and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their

wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them

equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Our response? This is stunningly unfair! The dominant narrative measures by what is deserved. ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. v13

Old Jewish parable with a different ending – hard work pays off. Jesus is highlighting the outrageous generosity of the owner. Jesus exposes the deep gulf between the two narratives. Or are you envious because I am generous?’v15

We fall back into the demanding, condemning, oppressive, wounding God – because that’s the dominant narrative..

It’s like a snake in the grass Critical. Obsessed with doing the right thing Controlling. To guarantee acceptance and love Require constant affirmation False guilt Don’t handle criticism well Dependent on reactions of others for happiness Defensive

Being performance driven is not what we do but the false motives that drive us. Little rest in our hearts. No one gets truly near. In putting performance to death, we may do the same things - but life is totally different.

1 Peter 5:8 Your enemy the devil prowls around… looking for someone to devour. Ironically it can be through our righteousness. Whenever we accept this false narrative Satan has a field day. He will accuse us with failure. Those Satan can’t touch are those who know they are sinners but redeemed by Jesus.

Phil 3:9..not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.. The message: I don’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ - God’s righteousness.

This is an internal prison. The only place to find freedom is with Jesus. Only in faith do we find rest. Importance for our church - offer love, acceptance and forgiveness over and over again.

Find our places of devotion. Let God love on us. Religion - man hangs on to God. Faith – God hangs on to man.

1 John 4: 10 – 11 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

God is generous all of the time. Why? Because he’s not interested in what we can do for him.