The room is dark. Two men are seated across from each other in arm chairs. Lightning and thunder shake the house, as a storm is raging. These two men have never met before. The younger of the two licks his dry lips and tries to steady his shaking hands. The older is tall and shadowy and dressed all in black. His eyes are shielded by dark round glasses. Like some kind of spiritual master, he is considering whether or not to except the younger man as his disciple. His name is Morpheus. The young man is Neo.
MORPHEUS: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
NEO: No.
MORPHEUS: Why?
NEO: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus explains that the world has been pulled over Neo's eyes to blind him from the truth.
NEO: What truth?
MORPHEUS: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into a prison that you cannot taste or smell or touch. A prison for your mind...
If you've seen the Matrix, you know that Neo takes the red pill... thunder crashes, and the rest is metaphysical, science-fictional history... if by history you mean fantasy.
We'll come back to this.
Pardon our dust. We're under construction. Actually, Pathway is not under construction. You are. I am too.
So Under Construction is the name of our new series, which I'm starting right now.
Today is part one, so you're in on the ground floor.
I want to pull together a whole lot of parts of the Bible. Let's start here.
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love... (Ephesians 3:17)
It's a remarkable thing to think of Christ dwelling in your heart. God in you. Christ in you. The Gospel of John tells us that Christ is God himself pitching his tent with us (John 1:14). Paul calls it "the mystery" and says it is rich in glory (Col 1:27).
The title of the series is Under Construction. The subtitle of the series is Making My Heart Christ's Home.
This is the construction project. The human heart is a mess. It would be like inviting Jesus over and he shows up, but your place is a disaster area. Pizza boxes. Empty cups from T-Bar. Half eaten muffins. Crawling with ants. Dirty laundry everywhere. Dishes piled in the sink. And it smells bad.
So, if Christ lives in your heart, the idea is to make your heart the nicest possible place for Jesus. That's what God is doing. That's what we are doing as Christians.
We are growing and maturing so that Christ may feel at home in our hearts. This makes all the difference in the world.
The title is Under Construction. The subtitle is Making My Heart Christ's Home. The illustration is the Tabernacle.
So that's what I want to talk about now.
