“The Story of Freedom”

from John Eldredge’s “Epic”

Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007

Genesis 3:8-15; John 20:1-10, 18

Introduction: Life, you’ll notice, is a story. Life doesn’t come to us like a math problem, it comes to us the way a story does; scene-by-scene. You wake up and wonder. What will happen next? You don’t get to know—you have to enter in, take the journey as it comes.

Life unfolds like a drama. Doesn’t it? Each day has a beginning, and an end. There are all sorts of characters and settings in each day. A year goes by like a chapter from a novel. Sometimes it reads like a tragedy; other times it reads like a comedy. But whatever happens, it’s a story through and through.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but when 2 people come together, they bring their stories. That is the way we get to know each other. We tell our stories to each other. And these stories actually nourish us. They provide a kind of food that the soul craves. Stories shed light on our lives. This is why you want to get to know someone; you need to know THEIR story.

I. THE Story- (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1)

In the movie The Matrix Reloaded, the main character Neo says: “I just wish I knew what I am supposed to do.” This is a question that is asked so often, and by so many. If life is a story, what is the plot? What is your role to play and my role to play? It would be good to know this, wouldn’t it?

The problem is that we think that our story begins with us; but it doesn’t. There is a story that gives meaning to all of life; a story which makes all other stories make sense. Today is Easter Sunday, and we remember Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. We like to start our story with the end of Jesus’ earthly story. But starting the story here is like coming into a movie 45 minutes late. You see some-thing going on that is exciting and has meaning, but it doesn’t have meaning to you because you have missed the beginning of the story.

The story begins in Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. Genesis tells us: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.” And John says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In the beginning was GOD… God as Trinity (three in one); God as fellowship. God as love. God showing intimacy to His creation.

I want to show you a scene from the movie “The Last of the Mohicans.” 1757. The American Colonies. It is the third year of the war between England and France for the possession of the continent. THREE MEN. The last of a vanishing people are on a frontier west of the Hudson river. We behold a vast, untamed wilderness. Mountain and forest, as far as the eye can see. Beauty. Mystery. Down into these woods we are taken, and we discover 3 men running at full speed through this forest. No words are spoken in this scene; no words need to be spoken. It is the image of intimacy and fellowship and adventure. A picture of the Trinity.

Let’s run the clip.,,

Movie Illustration: Opening scene of “The Last of the Mohicans.”(run clip from 1 minute, 30 seconds, to 3:30)

In this scene, we saw the three characters working together in harmony to accomplish their task of tracking down the buck. I think this is visually helpful to think about what God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were doing in the task of creation. They worked together. Creation was done by all three, in fellowship and love. And by creating all things, including you and me, God invites us into the story; a story that is already happening.

The great promise of Act One is that something preceded us. Something good. In the beginning lets us know that something immortal and eternal is happening, and our lives are just a part of this grander story. It is a story of a God who is personal. We don’t belong to a lonely universe, but one born out of Love.

II. The Revolt- (Ephesians 6:12; Ezekiel 28:12-17)

But then we turn to Act Two of the story. And what does every good story have? It has a villain. It is hard to think of a tale that doesn’t have a villain. The Big Bad Wolf, the Troll under the bridge, Darth Vadar in Star Wars, the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz. And in the great story of J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, we come to dread the Dark Lord Sauron.

And just as every story has a villain, so does your story and my story. Though we don’t want to admit it, we don’t like it, it is a reality. There is evil cast around us. With war, famine, betrayal, and murder all around us, we surely know there is an evil force. Where did it come from? What is its motive? How are we to find refuge from it? We ask these questions.

The good news is that we are not alone in this battle. The battle is being fought for us in another realm. As the apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” God has created angels. Angels are powerful. That is why every time an angel shows up in the Bible, they have to say “Fear not…” They strike fear into humans by their presence.

But in the past, long before you and I entered this story, there was a revolt. One third of the angels decided to go with Satan, and warfare between God and Satan, the angels and the demons, ensued. It didn’t start this way. Listen to what the Bible says about Satan in Ezekiel 28:12-15, ¹² "…. 'You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. ¹⁴ You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. ¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till wickedness was found in you.”

Standing at the head of the vast legions of angelic hosts was a captain. The most beautiful, the most powerful of them all. The commander of the armies of God. The guardian of the glory of God. His name was Lucifer, “Son of the morning.” Glorious as the sun. But Pride entered Lucifer’s heart. He began to believe he had been cheated somehow. He didn’t want to be just a small part of the noble Story; he wanted the Story to be about him. He coveted the throne; he wanted to be the star. He wanted worship and adoration for himself.

Ezekiel 28:17- “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty; and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” How many stories turn on betrayal? How many kingdoms fall because of a bloody revolt? In The Last of the Mohicans, the Indian Magua posed as a Mohican, a friend and guide, but in the end betrayed the king’s armies and led them into an ambush. The greatest Jedi of them all, Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side and became Darth Vadar. And on and on it goes, story after story after story, where someone lusted for power, gave in to their pride, and revolted.

Satan makes his way through the fury of the warring armies to face the great archangel Michael, who takes Lucifer’s place at the head of the faithful angels. There on the field of battle the mighty captains meet. Michael turns and confronts the traitor: “Author of evil, unknown till thy revolt….how hast thou disturbed Heaven’s blessed peace, and unto Nature brought Misery, uncreated till the crime of thy rebellion? How hast thou instilled thy malice into thousands, once upright and faithful, now proved false? Heaven casts thee out.”

So evil enters the Story.

It is interesting to see how naïve so many people are about evil. Most people don’t take it seriously. They don’t live as if there is a villain in their story. They don’t believe that Satan is real. The truth is, life is very confusing if you don’t take into account that there is a villain. As C. S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity,

“One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament

seriousl,y was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe—a

mighty, evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death, disease, and

sin…Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was

good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees…this is

a universe at war.”

At the end of Act Two, Evil has entered the story, and Satan stays in the story as the villain.

III. The Hero Comes to the Rescue- (Genesis 3:1-19, 6:5-6; John 15:9)

Creation has unfolded like a great work of art; a masterpiece in the making.

It is a story of romance. God in love with His creation, and His creation in love with Him. God enables us to love and experience love. He gives us the greatest treasure in all of creation; a heart. For God intends for us to be intimate allies with Him.

And yet with this heart comes something that is staggering, and that is the freedom to reject Him. He gives each of us a will of our own. He knows what can come of this, as He has already seen the rebellion of Lucifer and the angels. But God knows that real love only comes when one freely chooses to love. So to write this Story where love is the meaning, where love is the highest and best of all, then you have to let each person choose to love. You have to allow for there to be freedom.

AND THIS IS WHERE THE STORY TAKES A TRAGIC TURN!

Satan is unhappy about being thrown out of heaven, and decides to seek revenge on God by destroying God’s beloved people. Satan is lurking in the Garden of Eden. This is where we see Satan come to Eve in the garden and deceive her into eating the fruit. Satan hates God, and therefore hates God’s people.

Satan’s whispers are that Eve and Adam can take matters under their control. They don’t have to rely only on God. Satan sews seeds of mistrust into our hearts and tempts us to seize control. And we see this happen today as well; people thinking that trusting God is way too risky. We can rewrite the story. We can give ourselves a better part; WE THINK.

THE EVIL ONE LIES TO US ABOUT WHERE TRUE LIFE IS FOUND.

And this grieves God. As we read in Genesis 6:5-6, “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.”

Something has gone wrong, and we know it to be true. And this is why our life doesn’t come close most of the time to the desires that are written in our hearts.

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST, BECAUSE LIKE IN EVERY GOOD STORY, THERE IS A HERO IN OUR STORY WHO COMES TO RESCUE US!

We have been born in love, by love, and for love, and to love we must return. As John 15:9 has Jesus saying, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” God created us in freedom to be his intimate allies, and he will not give up on us. So he designed a way to ransom us.

The coming of Jesus of Nazareth was a dangerous mission into enemy territory, to save the free world. He gave his life willingly to ransom us from the Evil One, to pay the price for our betrayal, and to prove all time and beyond any shadow of a doubt that the heart of God is good; LOVE itself.

At this point in the story, it is as if there is a hush. It is like the stunned silence of the crowd in the Colosseum at the end of the movie Gladiator. Maximus, their hero, has just dealt a mortal blow to the Prince; Commodus. Commodus has been cast down in battle. But it is a blow that will cost Maximus his life.

Let’s see the clip….. The Gladiator (2:23:38 to 2:27:50)

Christ has given his life to set us free. We have been restored in our relationship to God!

Conclusion: But that isn’t the end of the story. Like all good stories there is a “happily ever after.” We will see Christ again in heaven. Easter is about Jesus making all things new. No longer is Satan in charge. No longer does sin and death reign over us. Because Christ has died and been risen from the dead, the Evil One is cast down. Like Dorothy arriving home safely in The Wizard of Oz, like Middle Earth being restored in The Lord of the Rings, like Narnia receiving life again in The Chronicles of Narnia, so the world in all its beauty is ours again in Christ.

The resurrection of Jesus gives us life and hope and love restored. The resurrection of Jesus gives us a promise that we can have in our lives the dreams God has placed there when we were born. The resurrection of Jesus allows us to live out the Story that God had in mind here on earth, but promises us life in paradise with Him for all eternity. Praise be to Jesus, who has been raised from death to life! Amen.