Matt Chandler - Empire

Well, good morning. That will be our passage, but while you’re turning there, we’ve got a little bit of business to address. First, let me start by thanking you. I know that as we’ve built the parking garage, that’s put a lot of pressure on the lot, and so many of you are still using shuttles all these months later. We’re so close to it being opened, which will alleviate that pressure. Then we’ll push out this way, and we’ll all have to come in through this narrow hallway here, and there will be a new set of challenges as we come in. But then, who knows?

For today, we were unaware that there was a crew showing up at the Chick-fil-A to tear out awnings and do work. We have three cars that are blocking that work, so I just want to let you know that you might want to try to move your car, as it may or may not be there when we are done here. There’s a gray Kia SPT 6313, a white Honda FRM 4991, and another gray Kia DV6 3534. Here’s what I’m going to do: I’ll give you some prayer cover; she apparently doesn’t even need it. We’ll let you head out and do that; it’s not your fault. We didn’t know there was no warning for us, as they don’t have to provide that.

So, I’ll pray for you while you move your car.

Father, we thank you—even as silly as this might sound—for parking problems. We are not a church that is dying. We are not a church that has a bunch of space that isn’t being leveraged for growing people in love and knowledge of King Jesus. I pray a prayer of thanks for the generosity of these men and women who are solving these problems here, and I pray for these three individuals who are hustling out to their cars and trying to find a new space, which will be another problem in and of itself. I thank you for your Word, for these people, and for this great country we live in. I thank you for how you love your people and call us into being this creative minority that pushes against empires. Thank you that your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and you are our everlasting King. It’s in your beautiful name I pray. Amen.

The first movie I remember going to, so maybe there was one before this, was on a Sunday morning. My dad, Gly, woke us all up and took us to see The Empire Strikes Back. It was 1980, I believe, the year, so I was about six years old. And I’ve got a confession to make about The Empire Strikes Back: I loved the Empire. I found Luke to be—have you rewatched these? —hopelessly whiny. He’s always like, «When does this guy die?» In fact, in all of the Rebellion, the only guy I kind of liked was the one who didn’t even want to be a part of the Rebellion, Han Solo. Remember that moment where Princess Leia says, «I love you»? Do you remember what he said? «I know.» And I was like, «This guy right here is cool. I like this guy.» But then he gets frozen in carbonite.

You know who I loved? Darth Vader. I mean, I just thought that was awesome. I never wanted to be Luke for Halloween; I wanted to be Vader. I wanted to force choke and throw things with my mind. I loved the look of the Empire; even the Stormtroopers—apparently, they can’t see worth anything. I’d never take them hunting; they can’t hit a shot. But man, everything from their gear to their planes, or spaceships, to the Death Star—are you serious? Well, I guess it wasn’t the Death Star then, but they were trying. Everything about the Empire was like, «This is awesome.»

It really wasn’t until Return of the Jedi, years later, where Luke shows up very differently. He shows up like Johnny Cash. Before that, he was all like—then all of a sudden, he’s like cool, dressed all in black, doing some things where I was like, «Okay, I kind of get it now.»

Let me tell you why I’m sharing this seemingly trivial opening illustration. It’s very difficult to understand the story of the Bible, and it’s very difficult to grasp what we are being called to as the people of God without seeing the theme throughout the Scriptures of the people of God as a creative minority under empires—whether that was the Egyptians, Assyrians, or Babylonians. Then as we move into the New Testament, it’s Rome. The people of God have always been a creative minority, prophetically living and speaking against empires. When the Bible talks about empires, its favorite name is Babylon. Babylon is the anti-government of the people of God. Empire is a significant theme, and so today, I want us to look at the birth of empire and why it’s crucial to understand this. Then next week, we’ll talk fully about it.