Tangled for Real

8/4/2019 Tangled for Real

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Tangled ± Pacific at the MoviesEphesians 2:1-10

You¶re possibly wondering what the Biblical text has to do with the movie clip we¶ve just watched from the Tangled. Let me just say that this is exactly what Pacific at theMovies ± film, faith and life is all about. We need to make the connections between

the reality of the Gospel and how it applies to our lives. We live in a culture. We¶reimpacted by our culture. We need to understand how to apply the Gospel to themessages our culture bombards us with.

What does Ephesians 2 have to do with the movie Tangled? Absolutelyeverything and I¶ll tell you why.

Tangled is basically the retelling of the ancient story of Rapunzel. In TangledRapunzel has hair that carries the ability to heal and restore. Her hair is like thefountain of youth. As a baby she is stolen by a witch and locked away in a towerwhere Rapunzel is raised to be afraid of the outside world. There she is locked away.But every year on her birthday Rapunzel observes this mysterious event in the sky.It is filled with floating lights that we learn are released by the King and Queen as anaffirmation of faith that their daughter is alive and will one day return home. As

Rapunzel reaches her 18th birthday we recognize that the annual lanterns haveawakened a memory in her, a dream of who she is and who she belongs to and thather life is about so much more than being locked away in a tower, afraid of theoutside world.

Would you agree with me that dreams are powerful things? Everything we seearound us at one time was a dream. Someone had to have a vision of it, a picture of it, and a hope for it before they could do it or build it, play it or sing it.Dreams are powerful things. They shape our lives. You ask a young child what theywant to be when they grow up and the chances are very good they will give youdream.

Dreams are powerful things. They transform our societies. Even though it was

August 28, 1963, many of us are familiar with the words of a man named MartinLuther King jr. whose speech, µI have a dream¶ became a shaping influence exposingand confronting racial injustice and inequality.

Dreams are powerful things in our culture. To a certain extend the kingdom of Disney, is built around the idea of the power of and importance of a dream. Thoreausaid, µDo not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations. For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.¶

God has created each of us with a dream even though it may be buried deep insideus. And while I admit dreams can be misleading, confusing and even idols as weselfishly hold on to them and orient or lives around them, there is a God given, Godhonoring dream that each of us has been created to fulfill.

Why do I say that? Look with me at the last verse in the passage of Scripture

that was read. What does it say? µ10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.¶ It is also translated , µ10 For we are God¶s masterpiece. He has created us anew inChrist Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.¶

Can you see the idea of being created with God¶s dream within us? This dreamenvisions our IDENTITY. Notice, µWe are God¶s workmanship.¶



Now I realize that this is downtown Vancouver and that many people say I don¶tbelieve in God. Actually it doesn¶t really matter. God believes in you. More than thatGod made you. Just picture a craftsman building something beautiful. He dreams it.He imagines it. He gathers the materials and He crafts it.

Just consider this. There is so much created beauty around us. I¶m not eventalking about Creation. I¶m talking about things that have been made by people.

Sometimes we see something that someone has created and it¶s breathtaking isn¶tit?

For instance Annelise bought me a couple of coupons to go kayaking and lastweek Sandi and I went. It was at Granville Island and as we paddled back into themarina there was this boat and it¶s not just a boat. It¶s called the MV Meander. Theyacht was built in 1934 and it¶s 67 feet long. It¶s an ocean going vessel and it¶s builtout of teak and oak and cedar. It¶s just breathtaking.

As breathtaking as this is, it doesn¶t hold a candle to you. As painstakinglyfashioned and maintained as it is, this boat doesn¶t even make it into the sameuniverse compared to a human being.

The Bible tells us we are God¶s workmanship. He built us. He formed us. Heput us together.

There¶s a beautiful description of God¶s act of human creation in Psalm 139,

µ 13For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother¶swomb.14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I wasbeing made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.16Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the daysthat were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.¶

But it many ways there is like this evil witch in our lives that keeps trying to kill thedream God has placed inside of us. Ephesians 2 is very specific. We read, µ1 And youwere dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following thecourse of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that isnow at work in the sons of disobedience² 3among whom we all once lived in the

passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.¶ God creates us µfearfully and wonderfully made¶ and sin makes us into

zombies. The Evil One, the Devil, that this passage is referring to as the µprince of the power of the air¶, so deceives us that the dream that we¶ve actually been createdto live out, that gives our life it¶s highest meaning and beauty, actually seems likeit¶s a nightmare.

Think of it like this. Here¶s the MV Meander. What would it be like if the firstowner of the Meander said I like this boat. It¶s pretty. I think I¶ll keep it tied up in themarina for the rest of its life so it doesn¶t wear out. That would be a sin wouldn¶t it?Do you think the shipwright who designed it, do you think the shipyard in CoalHarbour that built it had the dream that this beautiful boat would spend all of it¶s lifemoored in a marina. I¶m guessing that wasn¶t the dream. It¶s an ocean going vessel.

It was build for the high seas.That¶s a weak analogy of the deception of the Evil One in our lives. Instead of

embracing God¶s dream and living out the dream we¶re deceived into thinking it¶s anightmare.



So how do we uncover the dream? How do we embrace the dream and begin tolive out the true dream, God¶s dream, the dream we were created for? Look back atverse 10 with me. µ10 For we are God¶s masterpiece. He has created us anew inChrist Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.¶

Do you see how this works? This is the beauty, the wonder of what the Biblecalls salvation.

Experiencing a saving relationship with God is so well described in verses 4 & 5, ³4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ² by grace you have been saved² 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him inthe heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show theimmeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.´

This is what God does for us in Jesus Christ. Through grace this free gift of God where God the Son goes to the Cross and pays for our sin, you and I have theopportunity of actually being made alive, of becoming new. When you trust in whatJesus Christ has done for you, you literally go from death to life. You experienceGod¶s forgiveness from sin, the very thing that separates you from the love of Godand you wake up to the reality that God has created you with purpose and for apurpose.

This is why what the Bible calls salvation is so beautiful. So often we get thiswrong, or understand salvation to be so much less than it really is. So often we thinkthat salvation is just about heaven. If salvation was just about heaven this versewould read, µHe has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can go to heaven and livewith God forever.¶

It doesn¶t say that. It says, µHe has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so wecan do the good things he planned for us long ago.¶ Yes God wants us in heaven andpromises an amazing eternity, but right here and right now God wants us to embracethe dream that He originally created us for. Salvation is all about life and living outthe dream. Salvation is coming back to the very thing that we were created for. Doyou see that? Because the passage says, µthe good things he planed for us long ago.¶ God always had this dream in mind for us and salvation, is actually reclaiming what

God has always intended. It¶s like through Jesus our lives are put right.

So where do we go wrong? Some of you may never have heard about how youexperience a personal relationship with God through putting your trust in what Jesusdid for you on the Cross and you need to start there. That¶s where the dream isuncovered and you¶re made alive.

Others of you say I get that. I prayed the prayer but where¶s the dream. Didyou notice verses 3 & 4? We read that a part of the effects of sin are the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind«

Even though we¶re created anew those passions, those desires have a way of sticking with us. It¶s like C.S. Lewis wrote , µwe're half-hearted creatures fooling withdrink & sex & ambition when infinite joy is offered us. We're too easily pleased.¶

A literal translation of verse 10 says, µ10For we are his workmanship, created

in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.¶



What¶s the final phrase? µ«that we should walk in them.¶ The idea again isn¶t Iprayed a prayer and now I¶m going to heaven and I can do whatever I want. Theidea is my life has been so impacted by the grace of God through the reality of whatJesus Christ has done for me that I want to live every day for Him. I realize thatnothing matters as much as holding onto the identity of what it means to be a childof God and to live my life, my calling, my destiny, the dream in a way that honors

God.Or let me say it like this. So often we can be like a young woman who was

being counseled after a worship gathering. She said she was a Christian and wantedto follow Christ. But she wanted to be famous too! She wanted to pursue a stagecareer in New York. "After I have made it in the theater, I'll follow Christ completely",she said.

The man took a key out of his pocket and scratched a mark on a mailbox."That is what God will let you do," he said. "God will let you scratch the surface of success. He will let you get close enough to the top to know what it is, but he willnever let you have it, because He will never let one of His children have anythingrather than Himself."

Years later he met the girl again, and she confessed that this had indeed beenher life story. She had dabbled in the stage. Once her picture had been in a national

magazine. But she had never quite made it. She said, "I can't tell you how manytimes in my discouragement I have closed my eyes and seen you scratching on thatmailbox with your key. God let me scratch the edges, but He gave me nothing inplace of Himself."

When it comes to a dream for our life we worry about purpose. What¶s the one thingI¶m supposed to do and we have all these ideas«all these dreams. It¶s an importantquestion. But sometimes we can worship the dream.

Ephesians 2 tells us that God is far more concerned that we¶re clear on ouridentity and what it means to live a life that daily honors Him. If we¶re clear on ourGod given identity then the purpose will follow.

Or think about it like this, since God did all Ephesians 2 tells us for you and

your salvation. Since He delights in you and calls you His child then don¶t you thinkthat you can trust that as you live for Him, honor Him and follow Him that He¶llempower you to live out the dream He placed inside you?

Tangled for Real

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