Parables and Storytelling
Movies are storytelling. And what makes up a good story? Well in any movie you have the 3 act format.
Act 1 - We introduce our hero and the world they live in. Characters and their relationship to each other.
Act 2 - We introduce a problem to our hero that sends our hero looking for a solution.
Act 3 - Our hero comes up against the problem and saves the day.
Jesus was a storyteller. He taught in Parables. Why did Jesus teach in Parables? Because we are wired to learn through stories. You know what the one thing the Jews in the Old Testament were good at? Telling stories.
We all enjoy a good story, whether it's a novel, a movie, or simply something one of our friends is explaining to us. But why do we feel so much more engaged when we hear a narrative about events? It's in fact quite simple. If we listen to a Powerpoint presentation with boring bullet points, a certain part of the brain gets activated. It hits our language processing parts in the brain, where we decode words into meaning. And that's it, nothing else happens.
When we are being told a story, things change dramatically. Not only are the language processing parts in our brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events of the story are too.
Jesus used stories to tell people about the kingdom of God. Stories that you had to think about. Stories your brain had to process. Not everyone understood his stories… but it wasn’t for lack of trying. He engaged people in their heads and in their hearts.
Today I wanted to tell a parable using a show you might be familiar with. Jesus often taught in the language and imagery of the day. Farmers and crops and houses and rich rulers and such.
Ephesians 2
2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
I don’t know how many of you have ever seen the tv show Chuck. But I wanted to use the character Chuck to illustrate some spiritual truths. Here’s Chuck’s bio… He works at the Buy More. No direction. No drive. Just hanging out with nerds playing video games. His life is fairly meaningless and insignificant. Of course this is where many of us are before we know Christ. Then something life-changing happens.
Chuck gets the intersect.
http://youtu.be/JLopJjhwhcA
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Chuck did not earn the Intersect. There was nothing in Chuck that deserved to have all that knowledge, all those secrets. He gets the intersect and his life changes forever. So it is when we receive the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit inside of ourselves. He can literally do anything. He literally knows everything and the cool thing is, is that He chooses you to live in and to let you know the things He knows… to allow you to do the things He can do. Don’t believe me?
2 Peter 1:3 as His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.
John 14:12-14
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
You will find yourself in situations where you won’t know what to do, but in the moment, the Holy Spirit will show you what to do. He will give you knowledge and He will give you power. Kinda like this...
Chuck flashes.
http://youtu.be/WHFyOZWUNXI
The Holy Spirit is within us. We have everything we need for life and Godliness.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
http://youtu.be/flUcdtUbYnM
Chuck wants to be a spy even without the intersect. His nature is changed! From a geek who worked at a Buy More with no ambition to now, even though he doesn’t have the intersect, he still wants to be a spy. He is motivated to be a spy for the greater good, to help people. That’s what being saved is like. God changes us from the inside out. He changes our nature to the point that even if we didn’t have the bible to read, our natures would still desire to be like Him.
And this is where you come in… what is your story? All of you have stories about who you were before you knew God and now what it’s like now that you do know God. People are dying to hear your stories. Pray to God to help you find ways to articulate what it’s like to be a Christian. We need to be ambassadors of Christ, ones who not only talk about Him, but show Him to the world. Whether it’s your story or a parable about who God is, God wants you to illuminate the world to who He is. It starts with you. Tell your story.
