DREAMS
Pastor Kevin Canterbury
June 12, 2022
Series: Clickbait
14 min. read
Let’s start today by talking about Stranger Things.
Don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything! But.. a certain character in the show who is tremendously evil goes on this long and impassioned speech about how boring and stupid humans are,
“Each human life is a weaker copy of the previous”
Then that reminded me of a giant monologue from the movie Fight Club as the antagonist complains, “Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy…” Essentially saying, life is dull, repetitive, and monotonous… and some would agree because life has a way of beating hope and faith and mercy out of you to the point that you are just getting by.
This is a perspective any of us can slip into. At times I think we all reach a breaking point and feel this way- but there is a stark difference between sometimes feeling this way and allowing such cynicism to form your actual worldview. For example, the bible, written by man and inspired by God, taps into such human emotion:
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” 3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
Life is dull, repetitive, and monotonous…
“Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy…”
Everything is meaningless!
What a way to begin a sermon!
I do that because I want us to hear just how contemptuous and pessimistic it is to truly believe that life is meaningless and how dangerous it is to believe that our only purpose in this world is to repeat the same boring things day in and day out until we die.
Believe it or not, I want to talk about hope today. A specific kind of hope.
But first, the Book of Ecclesiastes that we just read the introduction of, represents a journey from one point to another, much like life. The author, Solomon, describes his starting point in the opening verses we just read as he believed life was utterly futile. Nothing made sense to him because he had already tried a number of solutions—pleasure, work, and intellect—to ease his sense of feeling lost in the world. However, even in the writer’s desperate search for meaning and significance in life, God remained present.
By the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is a different man who lived through this process and came out on the other side with a wiser, more seasoned perspective. A man with hopes again, or for our purposes today, a man with dreams again.
When we talk about hopes and dreams, what comes to mind?
Maybe you have 50+ years ahead of you and you still have plenty of things you want to see and experience for yourself. Or, maybe you left your dreams behind 50+ years ago and you’re someone just getting by. Dreams should not be unique to the young and unmarried but should be embraced and fought for by us all.
If you don’t believe me, believe the bible:
Acts 2:17
“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’”
One of the fathers of the faith, Moses, wasn’t called by God, through the burning bush, until he was 80! I know most of us today don’t have Moses beat!
If you have breath in your lungs then you have the capacity to dream again. Dreams are good and God-given! No matter your age or stage of life, maybe it’s time for you to feel free enough to dream again.
Not to sound too dramatic, but if you do choose to dream, they do come with danger…
Genesis 37:5
Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
Your dreams may make you the enemy in someone else’s life. Joseph was already different from his brothers because he had a different mom, her name was Rachel. And it seems like their father even preferred Joseph over the others. He even gave him a huge, colorful robe that he didn’t give anyone else – parents, don’t mess your kids up like that. Please!
Dreams are dangerous though.
Maybe you can identify with Joseph or maybe not!
Then sometimes, the danger isn’t being hated for your dreams. Maybe your dreams are dangerous because every opportunity gets closed in your face. See, there is the danger of a failure mindset. You begin to reject yourself.
Even fulfilling your dream is dangerous!
Success, as it turns out, can be dangerous too. You live your whole life working toward something, placing your identity into it, only to achieve it and find that it’s not as satisfying as you thought it would be and you’re as empty as you’ve ever been.
And so your inner critic starts: “Meaningless, meaningless. Life is meaningless…”
Here is what I’m saying: There are two extremes
1. Everything is meaningless, so why dream at all?
2. Dreaming is dangerous and sets you up for disappointment, so why dream at all?
Isn’t it easier to just keep your head down, work hard, pay your taxes, watch your favorite team lose the Super Bowl, and give up on your dreams? Yeah, it’s a lot easier to do that. But I don’t believe for one second that that’s the life God wants for you.
When we choose to understand our dreams in the way God gives them to us, dreams can change everything. And we can see God in new ways, unique ways we never could have if we had never dared to dream at all. That’s the life that I want and that’s the life I believe we have through Jesus. Not slipping further into nihilism and pursuing our own destruction because “hey, nothing matters”, but that everything in creation is a reflection of God’s great love for you and He needs you to be the one He dreamed you to be.
Let me just begin here with wisdom…
A dream without wisdom is a disaster in the making.
I remember when Kelsey and I became homeowners for the first time. We achieved the American dream! And it felt great for the first 48 hours… And then everything that could go wrong, seemed to go wrong with that house.
Do you ever make a financial decision… but not a spiritual one?
Just because it makes sense on paper doesn’t mean it’s actually a wise investment. Like, it’s reasonable, it makes sense, and some people I talk to say I should. But are we being prayerful and wise?
Or are we asking for advice from trusted sources? If the trusted people in your life are not onboard, you should reconsider the context and timing of that dream of yours because a dream without wisdom is a disaster in the making.
Something we say all the time around the church office is a quote from the great Dr. Ian Malcolm… from Jurassic Park. Dr. Malcolm said, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” A dream without wisdom is a disaster in the making.
Ok, you could marry that person because you don’t want to be single anymore.
But should you marry them?
You could go out-of-state for college or work, but should you?
You could give up and walk away right now, but should you?
Just because you could doesn’t mean you should. Just because it’s a dream, doesn’t mean it’s meant to be done now. That’s the beautiful thing about having dreams, they don’t expire so don’t rush the process!
Later in the story of Joseph, his brothers fake his death because they simply hate him so much! He tells them that in this dream of his they will bow to him and get this: He was right! But Joseph lacked wisdom and he didn’t consider the context or the timing of the dream.
Had Joseph kept this dream to himself, I think he could have saved himself a lot of trouble. Now, God used these situations in spite of them but that doesn’t mean they had to happen in the first place.
A dream without wisdom is a disaster in the making. How are the people you trust most counseling you? They can provide necessary wisdom and perspective that can inform the context of what you want to do. Let’s be wise.
Now, this next one will ruin your life.
A dream without patience is selfish and faithless.
Let me ask you, do you ever get randomly inspired to make sweeping changes in your life? I definitely do!
I remember how I got really motivated years ago to officially get our family completely out of debt. What a great dream! At the time we had two car payments and one was an indestructible Toyota Camry. It was nice and newer, but I just thought “I don’t need the payment” and I began looking to sell the Camry, buy a $1,000 car in cash, and then have enough to settle our debt. Great idea, right? …I just needed patience.
I was so excited to do this that I forgot to tell my wife until I was walking out the door! Huge financial decision that I naturally thought my wife would be completely on-board with. That was the first mistake. Then came the vehicle I bought, which was the second mistake.
Here is the only thing that Jeep was good for:
A cute photo for the ‘gram.
That IS a pretty cute photo of my two boys, but that’s literally all that thing was good for!
I couldn’t get it to start after this! So, due to my impatient but good heart, instead of getting rid of a car payment, we inherited a third car that sat in my yard.
Y’all, that was so bad and so stupid. Dreams are good! But man, they can be dangerous especially when we are impatient.
The danger of impatience is real and can cost you more than just money. See, when we approach God with our dreams but then add our schedule to it, we are making a dangerous compromise because
God cares infinitely more about who you become
than what you do.
Maybe you are like me and you begin to get so focused on what’s next or what you hope is next. You lose sight of the most important things you have right now in this season of life and how God is showing you His purpose in your life now.
I have a great example of this.
Have you ever met someone who is accidentally profound?
I have a friend like that. His name is Tory. Tory has been working night-shift at a factory an hour and a half from his home five days a week, but he still shows up here each weekend to serve and teach in our Rock Kids classrooms. A couple of months ago as he was still in the trenches of nightshift, I asked Tory this:
“What do you think God is teaching or showing you right now working nights?”
I love Tory because he is just himself. He responds with:
“I don’t know. But I know it’s something. And I know it’s good.”
What would happen in your life if you showed that sort of faith? If we weren’t so infatuated with what we hope is next that we would pause and appreciate what God has given us now? We may not know what’s next, or the purpose for the difficulties in this current season, but what if we simply believed it was for our good?
Last one and let’s finish up…
A dream without gratitude is a nightmare.
What if that dream of yours did come true? That thing you wanted so desperately, what if it actually happened? Would it change your life? Wouldn’t it be so nice?
Ok, go with me here. Some part of your life right now was a dream you once had. Something or someone in your life was a dream that you now have, but what’s happened to you?
- “It doesn’t feel like a dream.” Yeah, it’s because it’s a nightmare now.
Gratitude will not magically solve every problem, don’t hear me say that but hear this: What if you changed your perspective and your six-figure job now, that was a dream back then, was viewed through the lens of a grateful heart?
- I can provide for my family
- I can help others with my finances
- I can use my influence for good
- I could pray and give to the person God brings to mind right now. Yes, there are expectations and it gets tough some days but this is the dream.
What if your rent or mortgage right now, that cuts really close some months, that home that was a dream back then, was viewed through gratitude?
- I get to share meals with the people I love in my home
- I can provide space to someone who needs a night away right now
- I get to raise my kids in the comfort of air-conditioning
- I’m not living a nightmare, I’m just ungrateful. This is the dream!
Two years ago, we moved here to plant this church. God moved in an incredible way and we were given the very building you’d walk into if you were to visit us – AS A GIFT. Dream come true, right? I remember walking around this 100+yrs building for the first time after it became legally ours, (I should say legally our responsibility). Broken this, broken that… The nightmarish scenarios began…
And I said to myself out loud: “Uh-oh…”
I’m not the only one who does that, right? You get the thing you prayed for, the unbelievable dream, and you’re there but then the intrusive thoughts enter in and what was viewed as a blessing becomes an all-consuming burden.
This is the dream we prayed for, the dream we wanted, the dream that kept me up at night, and I will not allow myself to sit in that mindset anymore.
I prayed out loud, “God this is a gift. This is a blessing. This is the dream.”
We literally walked into something bigger than we could have dreamed and I knew it, I knew it was the beauty and sovereignty of God and that phrase rooted itself into my heart, “This is the dream”. As I was scrubbing these gross pantry doors here on the property, I kept repeating: “This is the dream.” I wasn’t in denial; my heart was saying it because I believed it. This is the dream.
How different would your life be if you started walking around it with that perspective?
- I have young, wild kids and they are driving me crazy…
No, this is the dream
- I wanted to be married but now we aren’t even talking…
No, this is the dream
- I have a home but it has another issue that will cost me more money…
No, this is the dream
Dreams come with expectations and this physical building has plenty of them- but this is the dream! Hard days will come, but remind yourself this burden right now was a blessing you prayed for in a different season of life.
As it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances…” A little bit of gratitude can change your perspective and a changed perspective is a changed life.
What dreams did you have before or have right now that need some wisdom? Or that need some patience and some work? What dreams of yours need to be seen with gratitude?
This is the dream.
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About Pastor Kevin
Lead pastor at Rock Vineyard Church.
Discipled in the SBC.
Educated at Fuller Seminary.
Trained in the Vineyard.
Loved by Jesus
Eternally grateful.