There Is No Try: Why Jesus Is Better Than a Jedi

“THERE IS NO TRY: WHY JESUS IS BETTER THAN A JEDI” Christmas: The Force Awakens December 6, 2015 Cornerstone Community Church

It’s been 35 years since Yoda made his first appearance on the big screen, and he’s been a part of our culture ever since. Officially, the literature tells us, Yoda is a Grand Jedi Master. So what’s a Jedi? A Jedi, we learn in “Star Wars,” is one who has mastered “the Force,” the living energy that exists in all things, to serve and to protect those in need. We meet other Jedi’s in the series – Obi-Wan Kenobi, and, of course, Luke Skywalker. But let’s be honest – Yoda is our favorite.

Part of it is that’s he’s small and cute, in an alien sort of way. But it’s mostly the way he talks and the things he says. If you Google the phrase “Yoda quotes” you’ll get scores and scores of websites with various lists of people’s favorite Yoda sayings. They’re typically short – like Yoda himself – but they always sound so wise. For example, in “The Phantom Menace” Yoda offers this warning: “Fear is the path to the dark side ... fear leads to anger … anger leads to hate … hate leads to suffering.” In his first meeting with Luke Skywalker Yoda offers this counsel: “A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.”

But here’s the number one saying, the one that’s at the top of most everyone’s list. You might remember the scene. Young Skywalker’s fighter is stuck in one of the swamps of Dagobah. Yoda is trying to teach Luke how to use the power of the Force to levitate the vehicle out of the muck. Luke is skeptical that he’ll be able to do such a seemingly impossible thing, but he gamely says, “I’ll give it a try.” And do you remember what Yoda says? “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

For the last 35 years, every time I’ve thought to myself, “I’ll give it a try,” Yoda’s words jump into my mind: “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” By the way, do you remember what happens next? Luke does his best to raise his ship out of the swamp with his mind, and he actually gets the ship to lift a bit before it drops back into the sludge. Luke might say he “tried”; Yoda would say he “did it not.” Then Yoda, the Grand Jedi Master that he is, shows Luke how it’s done. Somehow this tiny, odd looking creature harnesses the power of the Force to raise Luke’s ship out of the swamp so Luke can fly it. Luke then says what? “I don’t believe it.” To which Yoda replies, “That is why you fail.”

As a Grand Jedi Master, Yoda knew how to awaken the power of the Force. And while I am very much aware that Yoda is a fictional character, I hope you’ll understand the point I’m making when I say this – Jesus is better than a Jedi, even a Grand Jedi Master like Yoda.

1 Think of it this way. Ultimately, what is it that the characters in “Star Wars” look to the Jedi to do? They look to the Jedi to help them win, and in particular to win over the forces of the Dark Side. And as we will see this morning, Jesus does that better than anyone. Jesus enables us to win over sin, to win over the Dark Side, in ways that no one – not even a Jedi – possibly could.

Now we need a quick review from last Sunday for this to make sense. Last Sunday we talked about “the Dark Side,” another “Star Wars” invention that we said has a biblical correlation. In “Star Wars” the Dark Side is the power behind the enemy. The leaders of the Evil Empire are empowered by the Dark Side. And while we don’t live in the world of “Star Wars,” every one of us is familiar with the power of the Dark Side in our own lives. In biblical terms, we learned last week, the Dark Side opposes us in three forms. First, the Bible says, there is our “flesh.” By “flesh” the Bible isn’t talking about our flesh and bones; it’s talking about our sinful nature, about the undeniable fact that we are born sinners, that we are born with a tendency to choose those things we know are wrong even though we know they will destroy us. We are born with a bent to choose selfishness and greed and lust and deceit. We are in a battle with our Dark Side, and it’s a battle we need very much to win.

Second, the Bible says, there is “the world.” The Bible says, “For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:15-16) Here the Bible isn’t talking about the world of people; it’s talking about the values and priorities of a world without God, a world that says “look out for No. 1” and “If it feels good, do it.” The world tempts us with the Dark Side, and for our own good we need to resist its pull on our hearts and souls.

Third, the Bible says, there is the Evil One, the devil or Satan, who opposes us. Here’s the key passage we read last week: “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:11-12) “Star Wars” is right about this – there is a Dark Side. There are forces of evil that are powerfully at work to ruin our lives and to destroy our souls. Our flesh, our world and our enemy Satan conspire together to defeat us in the war for our souls.

And the truth is this – when it comes to the war for our souls, it is do or do not. There is no try. We either win over the Dark Side or the Dark Side sucks us in and drags us down. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. In specific, here are the stakes, as the Bible puts it: “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) Do. Or do not. There is no try.

But the good news for us – the good news for the entire world – is that at Christmas the “force” awakened. At Christmas God broke into our world in the person of

2 his Son Jesus. And because of Jesus, we who follow him now have access to the strongest force in the universe, the power of God himself, and it is through that power that we’re able to defeat the Dark Side and become the kind of people we want to become.

Let me show you a very interesting verse sort of hidden away near the end of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. It’s tucked into the part where Paul is passing along greetings from some of his co-workers, like Timothy, to the Romans. Here it is: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20) That’s quite a promise, isn’t it? There’s quite a lot we could say about what that verse means, but let’s make sure we appreciate the big point, which is this – through the power of Jesus, we can and will defeat the Dark Side. In fact, not just defeat – we will crush the Dark Side under our feet.

For the rest of this morning I want to be very practical about how Jesus enables us to defeat the forces of the Dark Side, how Jesus gives us the power to defeat the downward pull of the flesh, the world and the spiritual forces of evil. And if all this talk about the Dark Side sounds too weird, let me put it like this. Here’s the question: How does Jesus help us say “no” to temptation? How does Jesus free us from our unhealthy addictions? Or, to put it simply, how does Jesus make us better?

Jesus Makes Us Better By Previewing The Possibilities This morning I want to show you two ways Jesus the Christ, the one whose birth we celebrate this season, can help us live and be better. First, Jesus transforms us by previewing the possibilities. One of my favorite parts of going to the movies is the previews. The more previews, the better, as far as I’m concerned. The previews don’t show you the whole story of the movie they want you to see, but they show you enough so you can decide whether or not to put it on your “must see” list. When Brenda and I go to the movies, we exchange a brief comment after every preview, either a “No thanks” or a “We’ve got to see that!” When God became a man in the person of Jesus, one of the things he did to help make us better was to provide a preview of the possibilities. Jesus showed us by his life what we could hope to be. When God came to live with us in the person of Jesus, he gave us a glimpse into what we could be like if we lived our very best. Now maybe you’re thinking, “Well wait a minute. It’s not really a fair comparison. After all, Jesus was God. Of course he was perfect. Of course he was pure and merciful and kind; he couldn’t help but be perfect in every way.” But when we think that, we misunderstand what the Bible tells us about Christmas. At Christmas, the Bible tells us, God became a man. He gave up his rights and powers as God and limited himself to the capabilities of a human. Here’s how Philippians 2 says it:

3 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, But made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:3-5) Jesus did not come to us as God nor even as a superman. Had there been bullets in those days, they would not have bounced off his chest; they would have pierced his skin just as the nails and the spear did. And just as he experienced pain like any normal human, Jesus experienced temptation like any normal human. The author of the New Testament book of Hebrews makes sure we understand this when he says, “Because Jesus himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18) Don’t miss that point – Jesus suffered when he was tempted. Resisting temptation was hard for Jesus, just as it’s hard for us. Just like you and me, Jesus was tempted to be lustful and lazy and greedy and proud and selfish, and it was hard. Jesus suffered when he was tempted; saying no to sin was not a walk in the park for Jesus any more than it is for us. But by saying no to sin and yes to godliness, Jesus gave us a preview of the possibilities. He showed us that it is possible to live well, to be our best selves, to be kind and compassionate and humble and full of joy. Before Jesus, we thought such a life was impossible. But because of Jesus, we now know how high we can really go. Does anyone remember the name of the second man in history to run a mile in under four minutes? His name was John Landy, who broke the four minute barrier three months after Roger Bannister had proven it could be done. Until May 6, 1954, scientists contended that it was physically impossible for a human being to run the mile in less than four minutes. But Bannister, who was in medical school, disagreed. And so on a windy day at Oxford, England, Roger Bannister did what virtually no one thought possible – he ran the mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. Now that we know it’s possible to do that, running a mile in under four minutes, while still a great achievement, is somewhat commonplace. Until Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953, no one was sure that climb was possible. Many people had died trying to conquer Everest before then, and many have died since. But because Hillary and Norgay previewed the possibilities, there are many people every year who safely make their way to the top of the tallest mountain in the world. When God came to earth in the person of Jesus, he gave us a preview of our possibilities. He showed us that it is possible to love your enemies. He showed us it is possible to do good to those who hate you. He showed us that it’s possible to bring hope to the hopeless and healing to those who hurt. And when we see how Jesus lived his life, it makes us want to live that way too. It motivates us to change. When Jesus came into our world, he showed us by the beauty of his own life the flaws in our character we had

4 long learned to overlook, but he also showed us how to become far better than we thought we could possibly be. Jesus helps us defeat the Dark Side and become better people by previewing the possibilities, by showing us what we can look like at our very best. Jesus Helps Us Become Better By Providing The Power But frankly if that was all that Jesus did for us, it ultimately would have done nothing more than frustrate us. I know, for example, that a person my height can dunk a basketball. I have seen men shorter than me dunk a basketball. But I can assure you that I never have and never will dunk a basketball. Some of you know that it’s possible for men to grow hair on the top of their heads – that doesn’t help you, does it? To really make a change, a change for the better, we need more than a preview of the possibilities; we need someone to provide us with the power. And the good news for us on Christmas is that Jesus can do that for us. Jesus can provide us with the power to become our very best self. Galatians 2:20 explains it this way: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Jesus not only shows us how it is possible to live, but he also gives us the power to live that way by coming to live in and through us. Two thousand years ago God took on a human body in the person of Jesus, and for 33 years Jesus lived and breathed on this earth in that body. But now Jesus lives and breathes through your body, if you are one of his followers. If you have given your heart and life to Jesus, Jesus is very much alive in you, and he is very much interested – if truth be told – in making some changes in you. There are some dark things in you, as there are in me. There are some things he’s discovered in the closets of your heart that need cleaning, some pictures in your mind that need to be taken down, some attitudes that need healing, some desires that need redirection. But the good news is that he has not come merely to tell us how to live better or even to show us that it is possible to live better; he has come to give us his power to live better, to defeat the Dark Side, to say no to temptation and to become the best possible you and the best possible me. Let me use an illustration I’ve used before of what it means to have Jesus live in us. Here’s a baseball glove and a baseball. I’m going to put the glove over here and then I’m going to give it some instructions: “Glove, when I throw the ball to you, I want you to catch it. In fact, before I throw it to you, let me show you what I mean so you can see that it is possible to catch a baseball. There, now you do it. Glove, catch the ball. No, no, no. You’re not trying hard enough. Let’s do it again – glove, catch the ball.” What’s the matter with this glove? Catching a ball is so easy. Why can’t the glove do it? What do I need to do to enable this glove to catch the ball? Let’s try this – let me try putting my hand in it. Now, one of you throw the ball this way. Look at that – the glove

5 caught the ball. So what’s different? What changed? I put my hand in the glove, and now the glove can do whatever my hand can do. When Jesus comes into our lives, he gives us the power to do what he did. He gives us the power to live the way he lived. He gives us the power both to be different and to make a difference. The Bible says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) That’s the power that Jesus provides us when we give him our hearts and our lives – power to live like Jesus lived. A Jedi can’t do that. A Jedi can tell you about the “Force,” but the Jedi can’t incarnate the power of the “Force” in you. Jesus doesn’t just tell us, “Be strong.” Jesus says, “I will put my strength in you. I will give you my power. I will give you the power you need to crush the Dark Side under your feet.”

And here’s something critically important for us to remember. It’s a distinction I’ve talked about a hundred times over the years. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not merely good advice; it’s good news. Jesus does not come to us as a Jedi Master to advise us on how to defeat the Dark Side. Jesus is not simply a cheerleader who tells us, “You can do it.” Jesus is not a coach or a parent who says, “Try harder.” The message of the Gospel is not, “Try harder to be a good person. Try harder to overcome your addictions. Try harder to forgive the person who hurt you. Try harder to get a grip on your anxiety.” The Gospel is not good advice on how to be better by trying harder. The Gospel is the good news that through Jesus we have the power to become better.

I’m not going to ask for a show of hands, but I’m wondering if any of you ever watch or listen to any of what are called the “health and wealth” preachers. There are a lot of them out there, and they have large followings. I listen to some of them from time to time; I think it’s good for me to know what they’re telling people. And much of what they say is very helpful and very true to the Bible. But then they go off on the health and wealth stuff, and it really annoys me because it’s simply wrong. They say that you can “name it and claim it,” that God wants you to be rich, that if you just have enough faith you can accomplish anything, that if you have enough faith God will heal your every disease. And that’s not what the Bible says. God doesn’t promise any of us wealth. Some of the godliest, most faithful Christians in the world live in poverty. God doesn’t promise to heal every disease, no matter how much faith we have. I know of no one with more faith in God than Joni Eareckson Tada, and she’s been a quadriplegic since 1967. So when I hear those preachers making those claims, I want to talk back to my radio or my TV and tell them, “Stop it! It’s not true!”

But here’s where I’m wrong. To the extent I communicate to you on Sunday mornings that the Gospel is nothing more than good advice, I am wrong. To the extent I suggest to you that the Gospel simply says, “Try harder to be better,” I am wrong. To the extent I teach that the Gospel is merely words and not power, I am wrong. Here’s what

6 the Bible says: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power.” (1 Corinthians 4:20)

We can never forget that the Christian life is a supernatural life. Here’s a question I asked you last Sunday: Have you ever done this; have you ever given in to the Dark Side in one way or another, given in to temptation, given in to your addiction, and then said to yourself, “I’m only human.” We all have, haven’t we? And then you probably said something like this afterwards, “Next time, I’ll try harder.” But here’s the truth – you’re not only human. If you’re a follower of Jesus, you are more than human. You have the power of Jesus in you to enable you to win over your sin. Listen to how the Bible describes what it means to be a Christian. Paul writes this: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith … Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us …” (Ephesians 3:16-17, 20)

So here’s the reality – Yoda is right. There is no try. The Gospel is not about trying; Christmas is not about trying. It’s about doing – it’s about doing immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work where? Within us! As followers of Jesus, we have within us the very power of God to defeat anything and everything that would drag us down and diminish our souls. We have the power not just to try but to do. We have the power to crush Satan under our feet.

Guys, has your wife or one of your kids ever seen a spider in your house and said, “Honey, Dad, will you come kill this spider for me?” Whenever one of my girls has said that to me I always very dutifully rescued them, but not before I stopped to make this point: “Honey, do you realize how much bigger you are than that spider? You’re hundreds of times the size of that spider! You could crush that spider any time you wanted – why do you need me?” And then to illustrate my point I would put the spider on the floor and step on it or squish it with some toilet paper.

So do you remember the verse we read earlier: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20) So think of your temptations and your addictions and your anxieties as a spider. And realize that God has given you the power to crush them under your feet, that the “force” is already with you. The Gospel does not tell us to “try” to defeat sin. The Gospel gives us the power to do it. When it comes to defeating the Dark Side, to winning over our sinning, there is no try. We have the power, in the words of that great theologian Nike, to just do it.