May 11, 2008
SoulTalk
Think Movement (Part III): The Courage to Cooperate with What We Cannot Control
SoulTalk15.mp3
Pastor Wade Burleson
Emmanuel Baptist Church
Enid OK

Luke 15:20 (ESV)

15. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

The prodigal son demanded and received half of the father's property long before the father died (v.11). Shortly thereafter the son left and went to a far country and wasted all that the father had given him in prodigious (excessive) living (v.13). Years later, in the midst of famine, the prodigal comes to his senses and returns home. Our text (v.20) records the response of the father upon seeing his son. He felt compassion, embraced him, and kissed him. The father gave of himself without regard for the possibility of future hurt. What would have been your response? How do we respond to somebody who has hurt us?

1. Most relationships fracture because of a desire to prevent any further hurt.
   Larry Crabb tells the story of a woman he knows whose husband sinned against her in the early years of their marriage. The husband rejected her when she was in the midst of trying to do all she could to keep him loving her. She wrote to Dr. Crabb: "I was determined to never be hurt like that again. Avoiding pain is such a natural part of me that if I ever gave any thought to why I kept my husband at an emotional distance, I felt justified. He was the sinner, I was the victim. I now see how badly I have wronged my husband. I was angry with God, shaking my fist at Him for not preventing my pain. Instead of enjoying my relationship with God and pursuing Him as my primary passion. I had replaced it with a desire for a husband who loved me."
2. Only true brokenness, not the agony of rejection, frees us to seek God.
   If one desierd to chart the progress of true brokenness (Hosea 5:15), it would look like this:
   • Confession - My sin is worse than any sin against me. I've sinned against God Himself by treating Him as if he were a second thing, and putting secondary things first.
   • Repentance - I have been on a religious journey trying to make my life work out and to feel alive. I want to trade in all that self-obsession for God-obsession.
   • Abandonment - I'll follow the Spirit wherever he tells me to go because I am willing to risk trusting God, even when he does nothing visible to warrant my trust.
   • Confidence - God is moving in my life. I am His child. His Spirit lives in me. Fellowship with Him is what life is all about! He is the center of my soul. This is life.
   • Release - I want to bless those who have hurt me. My pain isn't the point. Yes, I still hurt, but I'm becoming God-obsessed! This is who I really am.
3. The movement of the Spirit in transforming the soul is a journey, not a jolt.
   When God becomes real in our experience and first in our affections, you can be sure you've seen the hand of God. The process by which this occurs includes multiple events that bring about the transformation of the soul. Things begin to happen in us:
   1. There is no sense of giving up . . . we persevere no matter how empty we feel. "In their distress they earnestly seek me" (Hosea 5:15).
   2. The Spirit guides us to navigate through life . . . and people may not understand. We do what we feel is best, volating no biblical parameters, but maybe defying logic.
   3. Our goal is to reveal the character of God to all we meet . . .
      Sometimes things do get better. Sometimes we do avoid pain. That's not our objective. SoulTalk is not a technique we master, it's a relationship we offer to the people we love.

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   Questions? Comments?
   Pastor Wade