There is a show right now on Apple TV. It's called
Severance. And the premise is simple, even if
it's a little bit disturbing. A company offers
this procedure called Severance. It surgically
splits your consciousness into two selves. One
that lives at work, and the other that lives
outside of work. Now, neither of these lives
knows what the other one does, right? The work
you exists only in the office, and the home you
has no idea what happens in the office. So there's
one body, right? But two lives, depending on
where you are, you're completely severed. At
first, the characters, I mean, this seems like
a dream come true, right? No work stress follows
you home, and none of your home problems haunt
you when you're at your desk. But then things
start to unravel. Because, as it turns out, you
cannot... split someone's soul without consequences.
You can't divide a person without pain. And so
eventually, both persons start asking this question.
Who am I? Really? What have I become? Today on
Good Friday, I want to talk about severance.
I don't want to talk about the TV show severance.
I want to talk about real life severance. Our
own tendency to live double lives, to sever the
person we are in one situation from a person
we are in another situation. And if we're honest,
come on, we know we do this all the time and
there's no surgical procedure required. The person
I am at home, is not the person I am at work.
The person I am with friends is different than
the one at church. The person I am on Sunday
is different than the person I am on Monday,
and the way I am in a group of people is way
different than how I am when I'm alone. The way
I am online is way different than the person
I am in person. I say, for example, I believe
in forgiveness, but in reality, I'm ruthless.
I follow Jesus, I say, but in reality, I just
follow the crowd. I say I trust God, but I still
try to control absolutely everything. There is
the me over here who prays, and then there's
the me that pretends. There is the me that says,
you know, I'll make a promise, I'll keep my promise,
and then there's the me who breaks those promises.
So yes, if we're honest, we are all severed.
We seamlessly move from one version of ourself
to another, and it just depends on the situation.
We're not proud of it, but why do we do it? And
at what cost? Today we're going to look briefly
at a man who tried to live two lives. His name
was Peter. And just like anyone who tries to
live a severed existence, it tore his life apart.
You see, there was one version of Peter who made
a powerful promise to Jesus on the night he was
arrested. Peter said, Jesus, even if I have to
die with you, I will never deny you. That was
one version of Peter. But then just hours later,
another Peter showed up. After Jesus was arrested,
this Peter, Stood by a fire and told a bunch
of onlookers that he had no idea who Jesus was.
I do not know the man. Three times. This is the
same person. Only severed. Right? There is faithful
Peter who wants one thing and fearful Peter who
wants another thing. Faithful Peter wants to
be brave. Fearful Peter wants to be safe. Faithful
Peter wants to live for Christ. But fearful Peter
wants to live in comfort. Fractured Peter is
the result. It is really hard to live a severed
life. In the TV show, one character actually
describes her severed existence as torture, and
Peter would agree. When the rooster crowed and
Peter realized this severed existence that he
was living, we are told he went out and wept
bitterly. Not just wept, he wept bitterly. He
was absolutely broken in the most profound way
possible. Why? Why does severance hurt so much?
Why does living a double life tear us apart?
Well, first of all, It destroys our identity.
You know, in the TV show, again, I don't know
if you've seen it, but the characters with severed
minds, they're having these profound identity
crises. In fact, there's one scene in which a
character sends a message to herself saying,
I am not. a person, you are not a person. No,
rather, I am a person, you are not a person.
This is terrifying for her, right? Her existence
is denied by the one person who knew her the
best, herself. Peter was in the same boat. He
thought he was one person, a person who made
a promise, but when the pressure came, when the
crowds arrived, when the questions started, he
was shocked. to see this other Peter emerge,
a frightened one, a self -protective one, and
that's why he cracked. He fractured, and he wept
bitterly. He didn't know who he was anymore.
Severance destroys your identity. Faithful Peter,
fearful Peter, courageous Peter, cowardly Peter,
which Peter is the real Peter? I don't know if
you guys know, the word integrity comes from
the same English word integer. An integer is
a whole number, not a fraction of a number, not
a piece of a number, not a part of a number,
not a division of a number, a whole number. A
person of integrity is a whole person, the same
person, no matter what. But Peter, he's lost
his integrity. He's severed. He's lost his identity.
And of course, that hurts. You see, culture tells
you if you want to know who you really are, if
you want to know your real identity, then what
you've got to do is you've got to follow your
feelings. Follow your heart. But you know that
doesn't work, right? Which heart do you follow?
Which feelings are you going to follow? The feelings
that say tell the truth or the feelings that
say lie to save yourself? The feelings that crave
commitment or the feelings that crave freedom?
The feeling that says, I want to follow Jesus.
Or the feeling that says, just blend in like
everyone else. You can't find your identity in
your feelings. Because your feelings are always
changing. They are always shifting. And you're
always going to feel severed. In A Man for All
Seasons, Sir Thomas More says this. He says,
when a man makes an oath, he holds his own self
in his hands like water. And if he opens his
fingers, he needn't hope to find himself again.
Do you want to know why Peter was devastated
and bitterly crying? It's because he opened his
fingers and he lost himself. Living a severed
life, it destroys your identity. But it's not
just that. Living a severed life breaks something
else too, and that's community. When you don't
know who you really are, then guess what? Other
people don't know who you really are either.
People are going to avoid you, and you're going
to avoid others. You won't be able to get close
to them. It's interesting, on the TV show, again,
two characters. They develop this deep relationship
at work. However, when they find each other in
the outside world, they discover one of them
is married to someone else. Leading a double
life. disrupts their relationship, and prevents
human connection. When Peter realized how severed
he was, he too could not be with people. Did
you notice where he goes after the rooster crows?
He goes out. He went out and wept bitterly. Out,
away from the courtyard, away from the fire,
away from the people. And it's not an accident
that the Bible says this. This is not just geography.
This is theology. When you sever your soul, you
sever your connection to others. I mean, think
about it. If you've ever had a moment where you've
compromised your convictions and you felt really
bad about it, do you want to go and talk it through
with a group? No. You isolate yourself. You hide.
You go outside because there's no community.
Without commitment. No integrity without honesty.
Peter made a promise, but not just to Jesus.
He made the promise in front of his other friends,
his disciples. And now he's broken that promise.
The relationship is broken. The trust is broken.
So he steps outside, right? Leading a severed
life always leads you to break away from community
and leads to isolation. When we keep our promises,
it creates community. When we're the same person
again and again and again and again, then people
get to know us and people get to love us and
people say, yes, I like being around you. But
whether it's a marriage or a friendship or church,
we make promises and keep them. They say, this
is who I am and you can count on me and I'll
be here for you. But when we start splitting
our lives, community begins to break down. Well,
who's going to show up today? Which version of
Rob are we going to get? So we stop being known.
And we stop being trusted and we stop being present.
I mean, it's a painful irony. We long to be connected,
but we're scared to show ourselves. We crave
intimacy, but we only let people see these carefully
edited versions of ourselves. We want to be loved,
but we refuse to be honest with who we really
are. So we end up like Peter, not just severed,
but separated from others. But there's one final
rupture that we haven't named yet. Living a severed
life doesn't just destroy your identity. It doesn't
just break community. It also disrupts your spirituality.
Again, in the TV show, Severance, we learn that
the entire concept of severing a personality
was created by a cult, by this false religion.
And it's so true. That when we live lives that
are severed, it always leads us away from the
true God. Because the true God doesn't just want
part of you. He wants all of you, the integrated,
honest. Whole, you. And this is nothing new.
Go back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve,
they didn't undergo a surgical severance, but
they did split themselves from God. One version
of them wanted to obey God. The other version
wanted to be God. And when they tried to live
both these lives, they were broken. They were
fragmented. And they hid from God. God's question
was, hey, where are you guys? could just as easily
have been, who are you guys? That question still
echoes today. Living a double life creates distance
between us and God. And it's not because God
stops loving us. It's just because we stop showing
up as our true selves. We stop praying with honesty.
We stop worshiping with integrity. We start saying
things that we no longer believe. And we start
living in ways we no longer admit. We may still
pray. We may still sing. We may still go to church.
But deep down, something's been severed. We've
kept part of our heart back. We've compartmentalized
our faith. We want God on Sunday, but we want
control on Monday. Isaiah says, your iniquities
have separated you from God. Your sins. have
hidden you from God. So friends, do you see why
Peter was weeping so bitterly? When he realized
how severed his life was, he was destroyed in
his identity, broken in his community, and shattered
in his spirituality. And I just want to say that
maybe some of you here today, that is exactly
where you are. You're physically here. You are.
You're singing the songs. You're bowing your
head when the prayers come. But part of you isn't
here. Part of you is still out there, hiding,
hurting. Maybe even wondering if anyone actually
knows the real you. Or if they'd love you if
they did know the real you. So you feel like
you have to live this way. Severed, split, divided,
lonely. That's how Peter felt. Now, it's interesting.
On the TV show, again, how many people have seen
the TV show? I was hoping for more. On the TV
show, there is a procedure. It's very dangerous,
even a deadly procedure, by which someone might
become unsevered, be reintegrated back into a
whole person. But is there such hope for us?
Is there any way we can actually live a whole
life? Well, that brings us to the good news of
Good Friday. On Good Friday, we remember the
deadly and dangerous operation that Jesus went
through to heal us. And it all happened on the
cross. On the cross, Jesus was severed so we
could be whole. Yeah, sure, Peter went outside
and wept, but Jesus went outside the city and
he died. Peter was fractured. Yes, Jesus was
forsaken. On the cross, Jesus experienced the
ultimate severance, not just physical pain, not
just humiliation, but cosmic disconnection. He
says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me,
cosmically disconnected, right? Jesus and the
Father were one. They were one person, but they
were severed from each other. And why? Why was
he severed from his identity? Why was he severed
from this community? Why was he severed spiritually?
It's because someone, someone had to stand in
for every fractured soul and every split life
and every broken promise, every Peter, every
you, and every me. Because you see, though our
feelings might change, Jesus's never do. And
while we may break our promises, Jesus never
does. And we are saved, not because of our integrity,
but because of Jesus's. And we're saved not because
we keep promises, but because Jesus kept his
promise to us. That's what Good Friday is about.
He bore the shame of our double lives. so that
we could be given a whole life. He was severed
from God so we could be reconciled to God. The
Bible puts it this way. God made him who knew
no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God. That's the gospel,
everybody. That's the dangerous and deadly surgery
that can heal our severed lives. Now maybe you,
Like the characters in the TV show that none
of you saw thought that living a double life
was going to make things easier. But it's actually
taken a toll on you. It's taken a toll on your
mind. It's taken a toll on your relationships
and on your spirituality. And that's why today
I want to say to you, no matter how fractured
you feel, you can be put back together again.
Jesus was saved. so you could be whole. So are
you ready to be put back together? Are you ready
to stop the double life, to be fully healed?
Peter, interesting, he shows us the way toward
healing. Because a few days later, after he ran
away from Jesus and ran away from the courtyard
to weep bitterly, he finds himself... by another
crackling fire. Not the fire where he denied
knowing Jesus, but it's a fire of reunion. It's
a fire, and Jesus is there. And there, Jesus
asks him a question. He says, Peter, do you love
me? Three times he asks it. One for every time
Peter said, I don't know him. And three times,
Peter replies, Lord, you know I love you. Lord,
you know I love you. Lord, you know I love you.
Guys, Peter had lost his identity and Jesus gives
it back to him, right? Peter had lost his community
and Jesus brings him back. Peter had denied knowing
Jesus, but Jesus says, don't worry, I still know
you. And this is the healing moment where Peter's
severed mind becomes a sound mind, becomes a
settled mind, becomes a secured mind. You can
be healed too. You can undergo this procedure
too. If you've been living a double life, listen,
what part of your soul have you split off? What
part have you kept hidden in the dark? What fire
are you standing next to pretending not to know
him? Whatever's broken in your identity, whatever's
fractured in your community, and whatever is
severed in your spirituality, when we come to
Jesus as we truly are, honest about who we've
become, the same Jesus who stitched Peter back
together will heal you too. Good Friday is the
moment of truth. So let the rooster crow, let
the masks drop, and let the healing begin.