3.23.8 – Prisoner, Escape!

There’s a prison in Dalhart and there are county jails in every county and there are more jails all over this country. Usually, they only make the news when something goes wrong. A recent study said that 10% of Americans had spent some time in jail.

A few years ago a young man who had attended our congregation in Lawton a few times was arrested and put in jail (I don’t remember what for). A man in our church provided bail and allowed the young man to work off the amount (plus, he paid him well on top of that). I was talking to the young man’s mother after he was out of jail and she was telling me about all the trouble it had taken to get her son out of jail. The phrase I remember, though, was, “I never had this much trouble getting any of my other kids out of jail.”

I tell myself that the only prison I have ever been in was when I went to visit the brother of a friend. I visited him in the actual county lock-up—sitting outside the cell on plastic chairs—and I visited him at the minimum security prison he was later sent to. These were clean, basically friendly facilities, but I came away vowing to never do anything to get tossed in jail.

As we gather this day to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, I want us all to consider a prison. It’s a prison larger than you’ve ever heard of. A prison with more people than beds or food. And, it’s a prison that every one of us has spent time in—and are probably incarcerated in right now.

If the prison we are locked into had a name chiseled over the door, it would be just four letters:

W-A-N-T

It’s been said that whether men live in grass shacks or fine mansions, they all want the same thing: a bigger house.

What about you? What do you want? A new fishing boat? A bigger TV? A new wardrobe? A promotion at work? A winning lottery ticket? An unlimited account at Wal-Mart?

What do you want?

Have you ever gotten what you wanted and, for a little while, you were paroled? It really did feel good to get the new car, but then it got a dink in it in the parking lot. You got the job promotion and everything was going well, until you realized that even more money wasn’t quite enough. How many times have we seen the story on the news of the guy (or gal) who won the lottery five years ago and is now living on the street? It is said that Alexander the Great committed suicide at the age of 33 because there were no more worlds to conquer. How many rich men in our time do we see self-destruct because what they have just isn’t enough?

I want.

I go to the carpet store and see that new laminate flooring I want. I go to the furniture store and see that new kitchen table I want. I go to … well, I can go to just about any store and see something I want. And when I get those things, sometimes—for just a little while—I am released from the prison of want. “This is all I need. I’m happy now.” But it doesn’t take very long before I’m back in prison, thinking of stuff I want, and not entirely sure how I got there.

Imagine yourself in this prison and the guard tells you that you have a visitor. You go to the meeting area and wise, Jewish-looking man comes over. He introduces himself, “Hi, my name is David. Some folks call me King David. I’ve got the secret to getting you out of prison.”

Now, you might be thinking this guy’s a scam artist, but something makes you trust him. You lean forward, and he says confidently, “The LORD is my shepherd; I will not be in want.” (Psalm 23:1)

Max Lucado writes, “Are you in prison? You are if you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less. You are if joy is one delivery away, one transfer away, one award away, or one makeover away. If your happiness comes from something you deposit, drive, drink, or digest, then face it—you are in prison, the prison of want.”

You and I are in prison, but David has found the way out.

What does his somewhat cryptic message mean, though?
When John D. Rockefeller died, he was one of the richest men in the world, maybe the richest. Someone asked his accountant, “How much did Mr. Rockefeller leave?” The accountant replied, “All of it.”

The first truth of escaping the prison of want is this: nothing we have is ours to keep.

Ecclesiastes 5:15
“We leave this world just as we entered it---with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us.” (GNB)

The second truth that can set us free from the prison want is this: those things aren’t you.

Jesus said (in Luke 12:15), “Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.” (MSG)

1 Samuel 16:7
“The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (NIV)

We’ve all seen the bumper sticker that says, “He who dies with the most stuff wins!” I doubt that the people who actually lead in such contests buy all that many bumper stickers. In reality, the person that dies with the most stuff dies with as much stuff as the person who dies with the least.

God doesn’t look at what you have, he looks at who you are. The only possessions he cares about are you character, your compassion, and whether or not you possessed his Son in your heart.

Think about the list of things most people say they are thankful for. Could you make a similar list? What if you lost those things? Would life still have meaning?

A businessman whose company had just tanked went to a preacher and wailed, “I’ve lost everything!”

The preacher showed great concern and said, “You’ve lost your salvation? I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“No,” the man corrected, “I haven’t lost that. But I’ve lost everything else!”

“I’m sorry to hear you’ve lost your compassion for your fellow man.”

“Well, no,” the businessman replied, shaking his head, “I haven’t lost that.”

“Have you lost your faith?”

“No,” the man answered.

“You still have your salvation, your faith, and your compassion,” the preacher said. “I can’t see that you have lost anything that mattered.”

“You have a God who hears you, the power of love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepherd, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner, and an anchor for every storm. You have everything you need.” –Max Lucado.

A lot of us come to church on a day like this expecting to hear about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I’m going to trust you know that story. But, do you know the “why” of the story?

Luke 4:18
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. (ESV)

The why is that he came to set free those of us trapped in the prison of want.

I want you to repeat after me, “The LORD is my shepherd; I will not be in want.”

Now, let’s say it again, “The LORD is my shepherd; I will not be in want.”

One more time, “The LORD is my shepherd; I will not be in want.”

I don’t know if you heard it, but as we were saying that there was a soft noise in the background. I think it was the sound of a prison door being unlocked.

“The LORD is my shepherd; I will not be in want.”

What Do I DO with This?
This week, I want you to think about what you need that God hasn’t already promised to provide.

Let your wants go.

Prisoner, escape!