Matt Chandler - Unearthed: Deep Peace

Come on, I knew the Lord was going to test us on this gospel goodbye, be about the kingdom thing, and I’m like, okay, we passed the test with this guy, this girl, this guy, this guy, and He just keeps taking. Uh, but I’ve already said it: I don’t think you replace the woman like that. I don’t know if you can, but that’s okay because that’s not what the Lord has for us; He’s got something else. Uh, and so we’re just going to be prayerful and open-handed and see what that is with great excitement and zeal.

Um, so I want to do a quick recap on our series because we took last weekend off from the series. Just to remind you, we’ve got this week and next week, and then we’re headed into Advent. So let me remind you where we’ve been, and then what I want to talk about today is what I believe is the greatest weapon or threat that faces you and me when it comes to living lives of depth, identity, mission, and belonging. This will either keep us from understanding and knowing who we are and what we’re supposed to be doing, or it will constantly try to pull you out of that.

So that’s my plan: to talk about this great weapon leveled against us. If you’re mindful of the weapon, then you can defend against it. If you’re not, my guess is as I go today, it will resonate with you because we all feel it; we just don’t know what to do with it, right? So that’s my plan to lay out in front of you: here’s the great weapon targeted against us in this season of life by our great enemy. That’s the plan, but let me catch you up to where we are.

So we started this series called «Unearthed» way back in the fall, and the idea was how we can help you see what God is wanting to accomplish in and through you. The concept was that on three different levels, you and I exist; we are humans in one sense, and that’s not the hard part, at least for most people. Like, we’re human beings—we can look around and think, «Yeah, we’re human beings.»

The second thing was that we have a general identity, and that general identity has everything to do with what you do with the person and work of Jesus Christ. You are either a child of God, which could be true for all of us in the room, or you’re a child of wrath. All of that has to do with what you do with the person and work of Jesus Christ. If you’re a man or a woman who says, «I don’t care what God wants; I don’t care what God says; I’m going to do what I want,» if your means of identity formation is to look inside yourself and find your desires—even though they’re kind of all over the place—and then say, «This is what I am; I am my desires,» then you’re in trouble.

Now let me find people who agree with my desires, and then let me sprinkle Jesus on top of my desires, trying to use Jesus more like a genie than worshiping Him as the Lord. That’s the child of wrath stuff. You’re literally just saying to God, «I’m a better God than you.» So even as I say «child of wrath,» if you bristle at that, I’ve told you for 20 years Christ has come to save you from that. That’s on you, not Him—that’s you choosing to be a child of God’s wrath.

So that’s level two: general identity. Lastly, where we’ve done most of our work is around the idea of specific identity. Look at me; there’s only one of you. You’re incredible, and I’m not saying that so you can engage in self-admiration or look in the mirror and think about how awesome you are. I am not ever concerned with your self-esteem; I think that’s a dangerous way to play the cards you’ve been dealt.

But I do want you to marvel at God’s commitment to you in the gospel, at God’s plan for you, at the deepest part of who you are. We talked about each one of us as individuals being uniquely wired by God and uniquely placed by God. We spent about 45 minutes on that—you’re the only one who will ever be you, and you’re super unique. In fact, you’re so unique that the Bible basically says you were made for this day, and the day was made for you.

Now, how awesome is that idea? That wherever you are, you’re made for this moment, and this moment is made for you. And that’s true for you too—it’s just what it means to belong to Him. Then we talked about the idea that even with our past, with some of the hard stuff—everybody’s got hard stuff back there; some people are dealing with hard stuff right now—that God redeems those things. He will not waste them; He doesn’t ignore them. He doesn’t give us over to bitterness, regret, or falling into communities of revenge rather than communities of redemption. What He does that I always marvel at, and there are a thousand examples of, if you’re paying attention, you’ll see this all…