“The power of a boring story.”
Passage: Luke 15
Speaker: Kevin Stiles
Bridgewater Tunkhannock’s Podcast
Your Story: Week 2
It is, I am under the belief that you can't have too many Kevin's ever. So I think it's great that Kevin, I was here, it's been good. I get to typically hang out at the Hall of Stead campus, but it has been good to get to know both Kevin and Kurt, Pastor Kurt, I do appreciate so much. They're hard to serve people. They just care for people and always learning something as they're telling a story or they're talking through some of their experiences or just listening how they listen to other people. And so it's been great to get to know them, love hearing the stories, the carnation stories, this whole life change stories that have come out of the tongue can at campus over the last seven months. I've been campus pastor here for about seven months. So it's been pretty cool to be a part of even all the way at the Hall of Stead campus. Now, I have to say they do have just one, I have to say it better, one area of concern that I have for Pastor Kurt. And it's been a burden lately, actually, as someone who was born and raised in Michigan. His love for the Ohio State Buckeyes is a problem for me. It's just that it's an issue. Maybe we can continue to pray for him. I know that God is not done working in and through Kurt's. And so we'll just keep his, him and his family in prayer. It is part of his story. It's a redeemable part of his story, I'm sure. But it is, and we're in a series called Your Story, where we're obviously doing something a little bit different. I am here, and Kurt is not. But we get the opportunities to travel around and hear some stories. And if you're like me, I'm just kind of a person that loves to hear stories. I love to hear where and people grew up, how they grew up, some of the fun experiences, the crazy experiences, even both good and bad, that they've had in their life. And one of the things that I find most fascinating is where, at what point in their story, Jesus enters the picture? At what point in the story were they confronted with Jesus? And they bumped into him, was it a family thing? Was it something they've always done? Or was it something even more dramatic in their life? Or what kind of prompted those things in their life? And so I'm glad to be here to be able to share some of my story with you this morning. And as we get into that, let me just ask this question. How many people would say that in your story or part of your story is that you grew up in church? Just raise your hand, you grew up in church. All right, there's my people right there. That's good. This is where we're headed this morning. Anyway, I think my family, probably, and I know not, there's a few of you in here that might have the same, but my family probably took that to another level. I grew up in a very conservative, church-focused family. My dad was a pastor already, that puts something different. Even just saying those words, you know, puts something in, oh, you're one of those guys. But, you know, we had some expectations. Obviously, my mom was a teacher. Actually, she was my teacher when I was in second and third grade. Would not recommend that as a second and third grader, but that's how it worked out. But I was in church my whole life multiple times a week, probably even when I was in the womb, I was still in church those days. We had Sunday school class, and there was a morning service, and there was evening service as well. And then we were back on Wednesday for prayer meeting until Awana came, which Awana is kind of a kids program. If you're not familiar with Awana, but, again, memorizing Bible verses and playing games and hearing stories, all that kind of stuff. So I was pretty much in church all the time. And from second grade on, I was in a Christian school that was started at my church. They hadn't had my mom from second and third grade, but if I could draw you a picture, the best picture I'd give is our church kind of, kind of was in an L-shape. It was kind of on the corner of the block, and the church was kind of on an L-shape, and my house was right here. There were 12 steps from my back door to the church's back door. So my whole world pretty much focused right here. I was in church all the time. Now, again, I am happy for, and don't get me wrong, I'm happy for growing up in church. I love the fact that I get to grow up in church. Maybe didn't always love it. If I'm honest, I didn't always love it, maybe in high school, but I am super glad for my heritage that I have now. However, in the process, and that process of being in church all the time, I picked up something, and I'm pretty sure it was unintended, but it really did shape my life, and it really shaped, and we'll say, warped my view of God, who he was. And as we get into talking about that, I came across an illustration that is part of my life as well, and so it helped click some things for me, I hope it helps click some things for you as we go there. So let me just ask you this question, is it by a raise of hands again? Are there any Chuck E. Cheese fans in the room? Chuck E. Cheese fans. Now listen, there's a few of us up in the front. Thanks for sitting here. For those of you who didn't raise your hand, you know of Chuck E. Cheese, you just aren't fans, or is it that you don't know Chuck E. Cheese? Well, let me explain, all right, you're not answering, so that's fine, I'll just wing it then. The fact is that Chuck E. Cheese, what Chuck E. Cheese is, Chuck E. Cheese is a magical place, a pizza place for kids. They had larger-than-life animatronics that would come and sing songs, play music, all that kind of stuff. There were, I mean, as an eight-year-old Kevin loved going to Chuck E. Cheese. He loved everything about Chuck E. Cheese. You walk in and the sounds and the lights of the games just inviting you to come play them. The freedom that little Kevin had, 'cause he didn't get much freedom in life. The freedom that he had to roam the room with my plastic cup full of tokens, as I got to just play any game that I wanted to, as long as there were still tokens in here. And the big animatronics, and as any good dad, I obviously wanted to take my kids and let them experience the magic of Chuck E. Cheese, like decades later. And I have to be honest, the years weren't friendly to Chuck E. Many of you know, because that's where you've experienced with Chuck E. The years, clearly, they had to let some people go, and one of them was the animatronics repair guy. He clearly had to be like, "Go, the magic wears off." When you know the banjo playing dog that was in the corner, he's playing, he's looking down the whole time while the rest of his body's doing the song. Or the curtain that was supposed to close, and this curtain was pretty important, 'cause it kind of told you the end of the show. You could go play games, you could go eat, or whatever you're supposed to do, but you had to come for the show. And it would stop going, and so then there's just this lifeless Chuck E staring at you, no matter where you went. I have a picture just to show you that it can... (audience laughing) This can haunt your nightmares as well, 'cause no matter where you went in the store, he was looking at you, just lifeless. But as a kid, I certainly didn't go to Chuck E. Cheese for the demonic animatronics, or the really bad pizza. No, no, no, no, no, I went for the games. Chuck E. Cheese was all about the games. My favorite game was a football toss game called The Two-Minute Drill. And if you know about this game, the goal of this game is obviously to get as many yards passing as you could, while the clock ticked down. And the best part about this game is that, obviously, there's these little flaps. They had some circles there, but the little flaps you can't see in this picture, but the little flaps would come out and give you a yard marker that'd be 20, or 25, or 30, but one time, one time through the game. Randomly scheduled through the game, it would flop out and it'd be 99 yards. If you got that, you were golden. I mean, you were in because you had a chance. You had a chance to not only have a good round, but you had a chance to be the high score of the day. And it kind of kept that at going. At least the Chuck E. Cheese we had had it, and you'd always keep an eye on it to see who was playing it and to see if you're still number one, or whatever, and then you would just go fill it with coins. But really, the higher score you got, the real reason you went to Chuck E. Cheese ultimately was for the tickets, right? I mean, you wanted to get tickets. You wanted to not just get tickets, but you could go play, you know, you could play ski ball, and there'd be a few tickets there. There'd be that whack-a-mole game, you could do that. Remember that game? There was a game with a light that would just circle around really fast, and you'd have to stop it. And if you stopped it on the jackpot, the tickets would just come flying out of that thing. And let me just tell you, let me just tell you that there is nothing better than an eight-year-old walking around with this amount of tickets. I mean, you were the coolest, they envy the eight-year-old that could have this wad of tickets, right? It was something, it was a status symbol almost, that you had this many tickets. And ultimately, I tell you that story, because it's part of who I am. But as you walk through, and of course, there was the last five minutes left to go, right? Five minutes left, the parents would go, all right, you got five minutes, which you were hoping to stretch to like 10 or 15. But you knew that was time for what? The time thing you really came for, that was prize time. You know, as you went to the counter again, for those of you who apparently don't know, Chuck E. Cheese, there's a counter, and all the cool prizes are on the back wall. The giant squirt gun, the huge stuffed animal, the state-of-the-art walkman that was both a tape player and a radio. Oh yeah, all the cool stuff. For those of you who don't, never mind, I'm not even gonna tell you, just Google. But the fact is you'd see it, and you go up there, and you'd see that the giant squirt gun, it's an eight-year-old, the giant squirt one's 100 tickets. Awesome, I gotta have 100 tickets there, so you'd hand your tickets in to the ticket lady. And she would take 'em, and she'd be like, "Oh, I'm so sorry, that's actually 100,000 tickets." And it didn't matter how many times I went to Chuck E. Cheese, I still thought I was gonna have enough to get there, but then there was this quick realization that all I was gonna have tickets for was maybe a little gummy hamburger, a bouncy ball, and a little mini frisbee with Chuck E.'s face on it, right? And I tell you that story because it's part of my story, but also I think it sums up a warped view of God that I picked up. Again, unintended, but it's just how I started viewing God. See, church and faith became a game to me, a game that I was good at, a game that allowed me to earn tickets over his favor with people. I was able to look people in the eye to shake their hand and get tickets. I was able to do with what I was supposed to do. I was a pastor's kid, of course. There's expectations, good expectations. I was supposed to be an example for others to follow. I was supposed to be doing the right things. I was doing all of those things. I could answer the questions in Sunday school class or memorize the followers like it's supposed to. They get a high five and a pat in the back, more tickets. I could stand as pastors typically do, or at least they did my church growing up. They stand by the back door and all the people would file by telling him what a great job he did. We'll do that in just a second, we'll do that. But I would stand next to my dad and all the ladies and maybe you can help me understand why. I don't know, but a lot of the older ladies would come pinch my cheeks, whatever, on the way by. I could do that while I had more tickets, right? I knew how to play that particular game. And I wonder, have you ever thought about church or faith that way? Has it been something that you've done where, yeah, oh, I came to church today. That's gotta be a ticket or two. I prayed, oh, maybe I prayed. Boy, that's a ticket. I read my Bible, oh, that's gotta be impressive. You gotta read it. And then you're like, no, no, I read Leviticus. Oh, man, that's gotta be worth a lot of tickets. Right, we've treated it like this. I give, I serve, I do those things because I'm collecting tickets. And the fact is, as a pastor's kid, I became good at this ticket-taking game. The problem is, when it's this, when we treat religion or Christianity or faith, like a ticket game, it distorts our view of who God is. It's almost like, I did all of these things, God. If I will do this, then you will do this. If I do all the things that you'd want me to do, if I do the right stuff, then you owe me. And have to do this kind of thing. It was a transaction, it wasn't a relationship. And the truth is, God doesn't want something from you. And God wants something for you. And He wanted something for me. Those are gonna say, maybe. And the fact that so many people, like the closest relationships for us aren't transactional, you know this, if you know this because when people ask you, so tell me about your relationship with your kids, you don't go, "Oh man, just not getting anything "from that relationship right now." You don't answer that way, why? That may be totally true, but the fact is, that's not the relationship you have with your kids. It's not transactional, it's relational. You love them and ultimately God wants most for you, is a relationship with Him. And growing up, for me, my relationship with God and others was really limited to the transactional. What I could do, I could do the right things, all the right things, but ultimately for the wrong reasons. And I think Jesus tells a story, there's a story in Luke chapter 15, so I wanna open your Bible up to Luke chapter 15 that kind of points this out to us. Luke 15 is a story that one of Jesus' more well-known stories, actually it's a group of three stories. The interesting thing about these stories is that we only tell about 90% of the stories. And I think we almost missed the 10. I think it's what we're gonna focus on a little bit more today. But let's read in verse one just to kinda get context as to why he's telling these stories. Says this in verse one, "Tax collectors and other notorious sinners "often came to listen to Jesus' teach." There's pause there for a second, notice the word, "often came." Who often came to hear Jesus' teach? Not at your question, it is right in front of your face. I know it, you're looking at it. The tax collectors and other notorious sinners. Now this statement for us isn't as deep or scandalous as it would have been for this day, but it's not the best of the best that are coming often to see Jesus. It's ultimately the worst of the worst. The culture saw them as the worst of the worst, and why did they come to see Jesus? It was crazy to me that people who are nothing like Jesus liked Jesus. And it wasn't because he told them that he could live any way they wanted to. No, no, no, no. He actually challenged him, he called them up. He told them to leave their life of sin, and to follow him, he had standards, but the difference is that they felt welcome. They felt a value, they felt accepted. And I think that's how we should be known as a church. Is that when we are welcoming and we value people, whoever walks through the door, when we value people that way, we look nothing more like Jesus than then. And that's something that we really should be about, are we valuing people? And that can frustrate those who are religious. It did here in the story, you see in chapter and verse two, it says this made the Pharisees and the teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people, even eating with them. How dare he? The ticket earners were not happy that Jesus was spending time with the ticketless. Why? You owe us, we do all of these things. You should spend time with us. And they missed ultimately on who Jesus was, so he tells them these three stories. And he starts by telling him a story, he starts by telling him a story of a shepherd who loses the sheep. And he leaves the rest of the sheep and he goes after the one sheep and when he finds it, he rescues it, brings it back and he celebrates. He doesn't just go, that was good, how's it closer and I almost lost that one. No, no, no, he throws a party. He celebrates the fact that one was lost and one was found. He then tells a story about a woman who lost a coin. You're like, whoa, what's the big deal there? Well, it's more than just the value of the coin, it was more significant to her. So she stops everything, cleans her whole house, looking scouring for it and finds it and when she does, she doesn't just go, thought I lost that. No, no, she invites everyone over and has a party to celebrate the fact that she found the coin and then he tells a story about two lost brothers. There are two brothers who are lost and Jesus tells a story ultimately to talk about the nature of God. Remember he's talking to religious leaders here that don't understand why he's doing what he's doing, why he's spending time with the ticketless. Let's pick it up in verse 11. It says, to illustrate the point further, Jesus told them a story, a man has two sons. The younger son told his father, I want my share of your estate now before you die. So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. Simple start to the story that father has two sons, live again home, the younger one is done with that. He's done living under his watch, he's under living his lifestyle, he's just out, he's ready to be out. Have you ever met anyone like that? Maybe it was you. At some point, he was done. Now what does he tell his father? Like, let me ask you this question. When is someone given an inheritance? I know you know it. When the dad dies, when the parents die. So what is this young son telling his dad? The most hurtful thing he could ever say. I wish you were dead, or at least dead to me. And the father responds with grace and compassion and gives the son half of his inheritance. And this picks this up in verse 13. This is a few days later, the younger son packed all of his belongings and moved to a distant land. And there he wasted all of his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him and the man sent him into the fields to feed pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs look good to him, but no one gave him anything. So the son has lost everything. He is so poor and so hungry that the pig slop that he's feeding them is beginning to look tasty. He could not be any farther away from the father, the father's lifestyle. For 17, when he finally came to a census, significant statement there, we'll keep going. When he finally came to a census, he said to himself at home, even the hired servants have food enough to spare. And here I am dying of hunger. I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you. "I am no longer worthy to be called your son. "Please take me on as your hired servant." So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming, filled with love and compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, kissed him, and he said to him, "Father, I have sinned against "both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy "to be called your son, and the father stops him. "He interrupts him, he won't let him finish his apology spiel." He says this in verse 22, "But his father said to the servants, "Quick, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. "Get the ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. "Kill the calf we've been fattening. "We must celebrate with the feast. "For the son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. "He was lost, but now he's found. "And so the party began." And if I could just take a second and step aside from this message and just make an observation, this is just a theory of mine. This is kind of a theory that God isn't a vegetarian. I mean, at least he loves barbecue. I mean, he's not celebrating with the impossible veggie bean burger. But maybe not. I know he did create vegetables for us to enjoy. And if you are a vegetarian or look like here, and that was too much for you, please send me an email. My email is KurtG@breathewater.org. Send a lot of those to me, that'd be fine. Back to the story, in the story, Jesus is communicating that the Father represents God. And Jesus wanted the religious people around him to understand the heart of God. And the Father is filled with love and compassion for his son who returned to home. He ran to him, he gave him honor, he gave him a robe, a shoe, a ring, he valued him. And if this were a movie, the music would crescendo, the credits would roll, the story would come to completion, the lost rebellious child hits rock bottom, returns home to the arms of the loving Father, and everyone lived half the liver after. That's the story of the one son. But there were two. Where's the other one? Let's keep reading, verse 25. Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house. He asked one of the servants, what's going on? Your brother's back, he was told. Your father's killed the fat and calf and were celebrated because of his safe return. Done, done, done. The older brother was angry and he wouldn't go in, so his father came out and begged him. The older brother was angry. Who was he angry at? He's angry at his father. And the reason he gives, the reason he gives, I think, reveals his heart. I think it reveals that he was playing more of a ticket collecting game and it distorted his view of the father. So look what happens in verse 29, he says this, "But he replied, 'All these years I have slave for you "and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to.' "And all that time, you never gave me even one young goat "to feast with my friends. "Yet when the son of yours comes back "after squandering his money on prostitutes, "you celebrate by killing the fat and calf." What should have been one of the greatest days in this family's life, isn't? Because the older brother is angry. He's angry because he did all the right stuff. "I listened to all the things you told me to dad. "I spent all my time slaving for you, dad. "I've done all the things you've asked me to. "Never once did I not do those things, dad. "You owe me." Because he did all the things that I was supposed to. It was a transaction for him. The older son did not stay close and do all the right things because of his love for the father. He did all those things because he wanted his stuff too. See, the story says there's two ways to be separated from God. One is you can take your stuff and rebel. But the other is you could stay close doing all the right things. Just doing it for the wrong reasons. As if you could earn some of those things and just a transaction to you, not out of love for the father. And the story ends with one son not at the party. And it wasn't the one that did all the bad stuff. It was the one who on outside appearances looked like he did all the right things. We just did them for the wrong reasons and the religious leaders of that day they knew why Jesus didn't stop with the first son in the story because he was talking to them. And as I read this story, realized he's talking with me. He's talking to me and really to anyone whether it's intended or not, plays the religious ticket taking game. And as thinking about it, there may be a sign that you're slipping into that or you're easily looking and falling into those kinds of things that you're trying to earn. God's favor, earn favor with God by doing the right kind of things or doing those things out of obligation for God. And one of the things is this, are you doing, maybe ask yourself this question, are you doing what is right? Only because you have to. Is it an obligation for you? I was. Growing up, that was me. Everything that I did for God was just out of obligation. It was not out of joy. It was not out of freedom. It was not out of love for God. It was like doing homework to get a good grade. I did not go into math class learning to, because of my love for learning. Wanting to do my long division homework or whatever homework it was. No, no, no, no. I did it because I wanted to get a good grade. I didn't read my English lit because I wanted to know a deeper interpretation of where the author was taking us. No, heavens no. I did those things because I wanted a good grade. It was a transaction for me. And I think that's where we can easily get. When we just play this game, it becomes a checklist for us. I go to church, check. I read my quiet time, check. I pray, check. I give some money, check. I serve somewhere, check. All good things. Things we should be doing. But when it's a checklist and it's just out of obligation, it lacks the right heart out of love for God. And maybe, maybe for some of you, you've been playing that game in church and faith become boring to you. It should, because it's not a relationship. It's a job at that point. But God wants more for you. Jesus ends the story with the father's response and it's such good news for us. It's such good news for us ticket takers, ticket earners. Says this in verse 31, 32. "His father said to him, 'Look, dear son, "you have always stayed with me "and everything I have is yours.' "We had to celebrate this happy day, "for your brother was dead and has come back to life. "He was lost and now he's found." The father responds with still, with compassion, with grace towards the older son. He ran out to him as well. He begged him to come back, but he reminds him of something that is true. His first words in his response are, "Dear son." He reminds him of the relationship that he has with him. And not the task that he does. He doesn't come out and say, "Dear, dear, dear crop tender. "Dear sheep herder, dear stable cleaner." He doesn't list the task that he did for him. He lists the relationship. No, he focuses by saying, "Dear son." And I need to be reminded of that. I need to be reminded that church in religion or Christianity wasn't a bunch of tasks or list of tasks of things to do, but it was a relationship that I could have with the father. And I remember the day that it became clear to me, that it dawned on me, or maybe I came to my senses in it. It was my summer day between my freshman year and sophomore year of college, Bible college at that. Again, I was doing all the right things. And I had a, I was living on my own for the first time in Scranton, downtown Scranton, on Prescott Avenue, in a second and third floor apartment. A lot of those houses, big houses right next to each other, had broken into apartments. And I remember my roommates were gone that night, and I had nothing to do. We had a television, it was about this big, and it was black and white. It had little antennas that didn't get anything, so that was a waste of time. It was more entertaining anyway, just to look outside and watch people. And I'm always fascinated with people, and that the people right across the street, they had a second and third floor apartment as well, and there was a party going all summer long there. Every night there was something going on. And the truth is, the most entertaining aspect of it was to see who was gonna get drunk first and fall off the deck. (audience laughs) It happened more than one time. There was just something that were like, "Oh, I cannot wait to see this happen." That's terrible, but it's true. And that was one of those things that people next door on the right, there was a domestic dispute. Again, the houses were closed enough. We could hear the yelling and throwing of things and smashing of things, all that kind of stuff. The police were on like a rotation, almost as if there was a stop along their way. They were there so often. Guy next door in the left, he was always washing, waxing, and buffing his car. I mean, he was always doing something to it, and it was in pristine condition. And the best I can describe it, as I sat there and watched, and again, looking out the window and just watching the whisper of the spirit, saying something like, "People don't have any idea who you are." And for the first time in my life, nobody knew me as Kevin Stiles, the pastor's kid. There were no expectations. And then the question came, who are you? Kevin, is this real or is this just a game you're playing? And it was the night that I put my tickets down. I realized I just needed to stop that game because it was about a relationship with God, and I didn't be reminded of those things. And maybe you're here this morning, and you've been in church your whole life, and you're doing a lot of good things. You've always done the good things, but what's your motivation? Is it to earn God's favor somehow? Is it to get the pat on the back? Is it to do, to meet expectations? Is it some sort of obligation for you? Or is it hard because you love the Father? Let me challenge you to stop playing the ticket game, and to come into the house of your Father. If you're a follower of Jesus, you're already his child, and I just want the story of Luke 15, or my story to remind you of that fact today that you are his dear son, or his dear daughter, and you can put your tickets down. As you go today, we're gonna give you a ticket, and it's not because you came to church today. Although that is why you're getting it. Because it's gonna be a reminder. I want it to be a reminder that it's not about this. It's not about you doing stuff for God. It's what he wants for you, a relationship with you. And I'm gonna pray, and the band's gonna come, and we're gonna lead us in a closing song, as that's expected, right? That's what we always do. And you're gonna stand up, because probably because you're obligated to. It looks weird if you sit down. But I'm gonna ask you this. Sing this song differently today. Sing this not because it's an obligation, because everybody around you is doing it. Sing it because you have a love, a genuine love for the Father. I'm gonna do that, let's pray. God, I just wanna thank you. For the lessons we can learn from stories which you're telling, it's so easy. It really is so easy to fall into the ticket-taking game. The trying-to-earn favor with you of somehow, that we could somehow earn it, but the truth is you loved us enough. That we're already called, if we're followers of you, we're already calls your children. Lord, help us to realize that we can put our tickets down. Help us to follow you, Lord. Thank you for running after us, being faithful and good to us all the time, and running after us. Help us to intern, love, and run after you, because of who you are. I wanna thank you in Jesus' name, amen. (gentle music) [BLANK_AUDIO]