Harry Potter - Die to self, defeat sin

This is going to be an interesting post. My mind started going on a tangent as I was thinking back to the movie Harry Potter. So, to help illustrate my thoughts, i'll briefly summarize the parts of the movie that stood out, and then reference them to my thoughts :p

Voldemort had placed his soul a number of times inside Horcruxes. This way, Voldemort was able to live 'forever' unless all the Horcruxes were destroyed. Through the course of Harry's lessons, Dumbledore was trying to get the young wizard to piece together different pieces of Tom Riddle's (young Voldemort) memory so that they may identify these Horcruxes as well as where they were hidden. Honestly, all of this information could have just been told to Harry! But no, Dumbledore preferred that Harry realize things slowly. Why? Personally, I think that it has to be Harry's realization; his choice. As Dumbledore says, "it is our choices that show what we truly are." Likewise, there is a huge emphasis on free will in our walk with the Lord. As we are given new life and freedom in the Spirit, we are also given the choice to live by the Spirit. Like the parable of the "lost son" (the more i discuss this parable, the more I'm beginning to believe it was the older son that was "lost"), if we decide to leave God, God lets us leave! But He is always willing, waiting, and yearning for intimacy and celebration with us.

The choice is ours to make - to follow Christ, or to follow our flesh. Following Christ as a disciple is a hard and heavy investment. Jesus even warns us to count the costs before making the decision. Despite the intimidating and heavy investment in kingdom focused labor, the return value for us is going to be amazing!

Why didn't the killing curse work on Harry? Why were some of Voldemort's powers transferred to Harry as a baby? And why did Harry have the ability to see things from Voldemort's perspective? Because Harry Potter himself was a Horcruxe! That got my head flying all over the place. Reminds me of Ephesians 2:1-3 - "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature (the flesh) and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."

Sin existed since the time of our birth. Although he wants us separated from God, Satan himself cannot touch us or hurt us. He (satan) can only tempt us with opportunities to follow and gratify the desires of our sinful flesh (i.e. lust, stealing, and the rest of your huge list of human desires). See, Harry couldn't destroy Voldemorte cause he was still a Horcruxe. But when Harry died, Voldemorte lost his power on Harry. The strongholds (Horcruxes) that once surrounded Harry are now destroyed. Voldemorte can now be defeated. As Christians, sin too has lost its power; death has lost its sting. We are freed from the grip of these fleshly desires. From the grave and resurrection of Christ, we too stand victorious.

One of the coolest scenes in the last series of Harry Potter was a conversation after the young wizard died. "Tell me one last thing," said Harry (to Dumbledore). "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?" "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" After dying to the things that once bound us in chains of fleshly desires, we are always struck with disbelief and repeatedly ask "is this real? Am I truly saved?" Our spiritual sensitivity increases as we continue to remain obedient to Holy Spirit's convictions. Even then, we still ask ourselves "Is this real? Is God REALLY speaking to me?" Through obedience and a continual reliance on His Spirit, we are able to walk into glorious freedom. We don't have to live our lives with Horcruxes (strongholds) surrounding us. See, we can't live a freedom life with the flesh still a part of us. We need to die to our old self, and be made new in Him. This is the power of Christ in me - that through His resurrection, I may now live and destroy the Voldemort in my life.

Past, Present, Shaped

At church on Sunday, I was asked to share my past/present view of 'serving' and how the ministries at my church (Scarborough Community Alliance Church) shaped my walk.

Whenever I think about "serving", I am reminded of a meet I had with my discipleship group. The concept we were discussing was "Servanthood" and how they'd feel if they were a servant. One of my disciples responded saying: "give me a gun and I'll kill myself!" He expressed that being a servant meant low pay, exploitation, and zero freedom. I then asked him, what if your master was perfect? His response changed...

My past view of serving was quite similar to my disciple's. I used to believe that 'serving' meant we are to serve people, church, and fellowships. Don't get me wrong, serving in these areas is a good thing! But if it's your only focus, you will experience burnout and guilt. Furthermore, I realized that over time I was simply serving myself. Example, I used to believe that serving was an obligation. If you don't serve, you will experience guilt. To disallow myself to feel that guilt, I served! HA - SELFISH. I was also good at encouraging people. As I kept giving and giving, I became more empty and dry. Burnout...

My present view of serving is to serve God. It's not until our Lord is in His rightful first place in my life am I able to move beyond the first commandment of loving Him and successfully live out the second greatest commandment of loving [serving] others. Weird... how did I even get to this point in my life? All I remember is that all my sins were laid before me (in 2009) and the feeling I felt was immense brokenness and disgust. However, 'grace' covered me and it was then that I experienced freedom.

Imagine this... I know that some people feel that they need to spend their entire life paying off their mortgage. That feeling must be devastating and hopeless. One of your friends give you $5, and another paid your entire mortgage off and gave you enough money to live sufficiently after. To the first friend, you'd probably take them out for dinner to express your appreciation to them. To the latter, you'll spend your entire life responding to your inner love and appreciation for them.

My hands were involved in situations that bruised and scared many people; my feet brought me and others into many dark places; and my mouth spoke so many discouraging comments to people where I probably I destroyed not only their self esteem, but also their identity. To know that someone paid for my penalties honestly causes me to respond. It'll be inhuman and STUPID to not respond. My body is no longer used to serve myself or others. It's God's. Serving is no longer an obligation - it's a privilege. I no longer serve for my salvation; I serve from salvation.

Five ministries at SCommAC have Shaped my faith walk:

1. More Than Conquerers: This is my small group fellowship. It is a place that allows me to bridge biblical concepts into my daily life. Not only so, it is a platform for me to ask questions such as what does Amen mean? What does Doxology mean? What does being a Man after God's heart mean?
2. Worship Team: Being a part of Dave's team, I realized that the worship team does not point the congregation to the proceeding message or speaker. The worship team's role is to point the congregation to God. As we sing, we sing of His character. Not about the message or speaker.
3. Junior High school Ministry: It was evidential what these youths needed. They needed to experience Jesus. But how could us counselors position them? For whatever reason, we told them to create community and for them to realize the importance of community (i.e. their fellowship). But how? We began to encourage them to just love one another and as they did, by God's grace, community began to form. From this ministry, what I learned was that you don't love community and expect community to form. You love people, and community will form.
4. Ministry of Presence: The pastors at SCommAC reminds me of Batman's Butler, Alfred. Anytime we're confused, broken, shattered, and discouraged, our Pastors are always there. Despite what we do, they are there for us. With all my past craziness, their simple presence spoke a huge message of love in my life.
5. Mentorship: my mentor has definitely introduced me into a new world of being more rational/logical as supposed to emotional. Without a proper balance, I will destroy myself. Furthermore, he has showed me that we fellowship and meet with one another not only when times are good and joyful. We are still there supporting one another even during those discouraging and lonely times.

Since it's thanksgiving soon, the one thing I am thankful for is the community at church. Despite my past, their acceptance of who I am has inspired me to continue to run this race despite how difficult it may be at times. I am a sinner. But when the people you are surrounded with focuses on your potentials and giftings as supposed to your shortcomings, the cultivation of one's gifts begin.