Howdy God has delivered us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of
his beloved son in whom we have redemption the
forgiveness of sins Colossians 1 13 of 14. I
love a good story Marvel movies definitely a
favorite decades of stories being piled one on
top of another trilogies that complete a story
Extended series. I am excited that after nine
years I finally get to see the ending of Stranger
Things. Any good story that lasts a long time
just pulls me in. Even how I met your mother
had me as a sucker. I may be okay at telling
stories in a sermon that I've prepped in advance,
but I wish I were better at telling stories off
the cuff. And one of the things I find exciting
about entering a story, I mean, really entering,
is that when you focus long enough on a character,
something in you begins to pull for them. Even
the worst ones. The longer that you pay attention
to them, the more you focus on them, the more
likely you are to be rooting for them. Even the
ones you would never trust to even water your
plants. You spend enough time with any character
and your heart starts whispering, come on, maybe
this is the moment that they turn it around.
No matter how flawed, how broken, how wildly
unqualified they are to be any sort of hero,
once you pay attention, you start wanting redemption
for them. And that's how it is with this man.
This man named Dismas. I mean, what a name, right?
He's either a precious metal or someone who definitely
owes you money. He's a, well, how we say it,
he's not a great character. If you're choosing
teams, you wouldn't pick him. If you were casting
him in a movie, he'd be somewhere toward the
end as thug number three who gets knocked out
before the opening credits even finish rolling.
Whatever shady things he's done in his life,
they're not the sort of things that you're gonna
brag about at Thanksgiving dinner. And yet...
The longer we start watching the thug, the criminal,
paying attention to him, something in us can't
help but hope for him to make something of himself.
Even though his story seems headed toward disaster,
even though nothing good seems likely to come
of it, even though he is corrupt, compromised,
and honestly undeserving, something in us keeps
whispering, maybe, maybe there's still a chance.
Maybe grace will find him. Because when you enter
a story deeply enough, redemption stops being
a plot twist and starts becoming a longing inside
the audience. And if we're honest, we want redemption
too. Not just for the criminal, but for ourselves.
And it's not really about wanting to be in the
kingdom of God, though. It's expecting forgiveness
to be in our own dark world, on our terms. to
redeem us without needing to change anything.
Isn't that the thing about people? We love the
grace, but we hate dwelling in the new kingdom.
Colossians 1, 15 through 16. Jesus is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created, all things
were created through him and for him. And maybe
that's the strangest twist of all. We don't ever
actually want the perfect hero. Not really. We
want the one who limps the way that we limp.
We want the one who panics at the wrong moments.
We want the one who snaps at the wrong people.
We want the one who breaks promises and gets
caught because deep down we know that we would
have gotten caught too. It's like when the flawless
hero walks onto the stage And we know how perfect
he is and we think, well, that must be exhausting
being that perfect all the time. We hate it when
the girl chooses the good guy. We make up in
our heads reasons why he deserves to be ignored
and rejected. But then the camera cuts to the
side character, who's sweating, confused, and
morally questionable. And suddenly we're like,
there he is. That's my guy. The one who clearly
has nothing redeeming about him and makes things
worse, but hey, at least he's honest. Dismas
is that guy. A man who is something of a mystery,
except we know he deserves to be punished as
a criminal. Because he is one. And Jesus, well,
he's Jesus. Does anyone really want a root for
the perfect person? Come on. Does anyone really
want to pay attention to Jesus as an actual human
being? as someone to connect with on a personal
level. Yes, be our savior, but don't be our buddy.
Colossians keep shouting as, you don't understand.
Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn. That's the guy to be like. Follow
him. But let's be honest. When Paul says, in
him all things hold together, Most of us hear
it kind of like a refrigerator magnet or one
of those stitched pillows at Hobby Lobby the
Jesus store it doesn't really quite hit it doesn't
really mean anything it just looks pretty and
We're far more aware of How we're coming apart
And that's what it is that we keep looking for
in others So we gravitate toward the characters
who are coming apart as well The more we watch
Jesus, the more we admire Him. But the more we
watch Dismas, the more we understand Him. And
nine times out of ten, the person you understand
is the one you root for. He gives us a place
to hide our hope. If that guy could be saved,
then maybe someone like me could too. Colossians
1, 17 -18. Jesus is before all things, and in
Him, All things hold together. And He is the
head of the body, the Church. But here's our
tension. Colossians insist that Jesus is the
one who holds reality itself together, yet we
keep trying to rewrite the story. We complain
when stories turn out exactly the way that they
were designed. We say well, I didn't want that
to happen as if the universe somehow owed us
a gentler episode We watch nine episodes of a
sitcom We see two characters fall in love exactly
as the writers set up in episode one And then
when they end up together at the end we roll
our eyes and say well that was a terrible ending
We want our own version that makes us feel better
about ourselves our own arc, our own ending,
when we see the ones who are corrupt and terrible,
who continue to fall down a moral decline, and
they lose in the end, there's still a part of
us that's still a little bit upset. But you see,
that's exactly what happens with the man that
we keep trailing through the shadows, Dismas.
He did what we do. He ignored what God had designed
people to do. He took the storyline built on
God's design and said, no thanks, I'll improvise.
Steal, maim, kill. It makes a bit more sense
to me. I need to look out for number one. Me
first. But even when we try to scribble all over
the script and ruin the original story, the author
does not abandon the story. The author does not
abandon us. Dismas doesn't know it yet. But as
much as he has tried to escape a story that God
would have originally wanted for him, God is
about to sweep him up into a redemption that
he never could have imagined. For in Jesus, all
the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and
through him to reconcile to himself all things,
making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians
1. 19 through 20. And this is where the whole
thing cuts open. If God's story only worked when
characters behaved properly and followed the
right person, we wouldn't have a story. We'd
have a pamphlet. A very, very short pamphlet.
If the story only worked out because everyone
and everything had done everything exactly right,
there would be no story at all. Because the fullness
of God, it doesn't show up in the scenes where
everything is tidy and perfectly done. It shows
up right when the story derails. Spectacular.
Look at the cast around Jesus. Disciples who
blurt out the wrong answer at the wrong time.
Followers who can't stay awake long enough through
a prayer meeting. Betrayer who thinks the perfect
moment to hand Jesus over is the exact moment
when Jesus has finally revealed who he really
is. If this were a movie, the same audience that
was excited to see all those characters mess
up and ruin things would then be yelling, what
are you doing? He was getting to the good part.
He was so close to making everything finally
work. And then it gets worse. as Jesus is betrayed
as his story is ruined by the characters we were
originally excited to see the ones whose character
flaws were just like ours even while we didn't
want to admit it two thieves appear on the hill
with Jesus about to be executed for crimes that
they really did commit as much as we look at
those pictures time and time again let's be clear
These are not two cute little characters on either
side. This isn't Statler and Waldorf from the
Muppets heckling Jesus from some pretend balcony.
These were not charming old men making snarky
commentary. These were hardened criminals, genuinely
dangerous, genuinely guilty. And that's the point.
These were not actors sitting around the casting
table discussing who was going to play each part,
making an amazing story that would win the Academy
Award. These were people taking the beauty of
God's world and destroying it, betraying it,
ruining it. As much as we look back and find
it fascinating and lovely, the ones who lived
it had no loveliness at all. But the fullness
of God means that while their sinful rebellion
was never how it should have been, God would
still step into the ruined story and find a way
to redeem it. God says, you broke the narrative,
you mangled the plot, you took the only perfect
character and threw him away for the others,
but I'm still going to set it right. How does
he do it? By letting the only sinless character
in the narrative. Carry the consequences of everyone
else's improvisation Being blamed for things
that he didn't do while others lived according
to the lie So two others who were criminals were
led away to be put to death with him One of the
criminals began to mock him, but the other rebuked
him saying Jesus Remember me when you come into
your kingdom, and he said to him today You will
be with me in paradise. And that's what we find
with the two thieves who were given names in
early Christian tradition of Guestus and Dismas.
Because Guestus was the one who mocks Jesus and
Dismas is the one who turns to him. And everything
in the story, all of Colossians cosmic claims,
the ones that we hear but we keep glazing over,
every time we get to that passage, all the brokenness
and improvisation and rebellion that we keep
using to knock away everything God has done suddenly
collapses into a single moment. Because the man
whose resume is nothing but failure puts all
his hope in the one whose resume is nothing but
faithfulness. The one who deserves nothing asks
for everything. He asks for paradise. He asks
for all of it. And Jesus gives it to him. See,
that's the scandal of grace. This is not how
the story would normally make sense. But you
see, that's the punchline. That's the upside
-down kingdom that Paul keeps shouting about
in Colossians is that the worst character gets
the keys to the kingdom. The worst choice is
the one who gets it all. And that's the only
reason we have life everlasting because that's
us. We do not deserve paradise. We did not choose
the right path. We did not cling to the right
storyline. We threw away the only one who ever
followed it perfectly. Because we thought we
saw a timeline that just looked a lot more fun.
And yet, by His mercy, He still hands us the
Kingdom today. Holding the keys does not mean
that we earned them. That we didn't create a
story that brought joy and beauty to God's Kingdom.
But we still have the keys anyway. Because God
let His Son suffer. and earn the keys for us.
So here is my hope. My plea, if you will, as
you realize that this morning I am once again
giving you the keys to the kingdom. My hope is
that we stop trying to rewrite the story to fit
what we want it to be. That we stop insisting
on the versions that flatter us and our biases.
That we stop returning to paths of corruption
self -protection and self -creation Is that as
we hold the keys that we never deserved? We have
the time now to say more than Dismas ever did
Lord change me Help me understand why I chose
what was wrong before I enter your kingdom. I
will never deserve it But let me follow you now
Because as much as we look at Dismas and we know
that at that moment his story is coming to an
end We also know that that is the moment that
led into eternity so maybe that moment for us
The moment where we surrender where we look at
everything that we have done and the consequences
of it all As we cry in the ruins of what we've
done and we turn to the firstborn of all creation,
maybe that becomes the chapter in our lives that
stands for all of eternity. Maybe that's the
chapter that we present to others as our testimony.
And maybe that's the chapter where the author
himself rewrites our own ending forever. So today,
here are the keys. My hope is that you receive
them from the one who loves you enough to give
himself. Thanks be to God.