Taking Flight Part 6: Breaking the Sound Barrier

“Taking Flight Part 6: Breaking the Sound Barrier”

By: Paster Andy Whaley

Last week we reflected on the power of light shining in dark places. 

This week we listen for words breaking through sound barriers!

“There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, they would buffet wildly, and disintegrate.

The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter…behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier.”

(excerpt from the movie, “The Right Stuff”)

Did you know that the people of Jesus day struggled with the same fear? The unique differences being: They created the barrier with their own legalistic noise pollution!  The demons they struggled with were not in the air – but in their hearts, and they were terrified of exposure!  So, they insisted on living under the letter of the law in four inappropriate and oppressive ways:

1.)  It was common practice for them to create barriers built on intellectual proof-texts.  A practice of ripping pieces of God’s Law out of its overarching context (that always included grace and mercy, forgiveness and restoration).  Utilizing the law instead to argue outward fashion points.  To prove that they were right and others were wrong.   They built up external barriers of comparison to hide behind, refusing to allow anyone to break through.

2.)  They had a habit of quoting self-righteous sound-bytes to each other. Measuring one another by individual accomplishments, instead of by the gift of grace they had all received time and again from YHWH.

3.)  Unfortunately, this led to a sad state of mediocrity and individualism as the standard of the day.  Following the letter of the law in the most menial and trivial of ways, they were careful not to go one step beyond it into the Spirit of the Law – the realm of loving, gracious action that impacts the lives of others.

4.)  Ultimately, they lived in fear of God and one another.  Terrified of public embarrassment and the exposure of personal weakness, it was impossible for them to be transparent with their lives.  They were scared to death that somebody might see beyond their whitewashed outward appearance, and into their hearts where the stain of human nature resides in every man. 

In Matthew 5:21-37, Jesus points out that this is exactly what had happened.

Good thing we don’t struggle with the same kind of sound barrier today.  Or, do we?

Oh, yeah we do!  But there is great hope!  Jesus came specifically to break through the noise pollution and sound barriers we create.  He came to reach into our hearts and sing new life into all of us!  As we feel His touch, He calls us to go beyond self-serving proof-texts and sound-bytes, beyond the realm of individual mediocrity and fear - beyond the mere letter of the law boldly into the realm of the Spirit of the Law!  A new dimension of transparency, humility, and forgiveness. 

He does this by transforming our hearts to follow His lead and take care of first things first – reconciling broken relationships, and mending broken hearts.  That is why He came – to reconcile us to Himself and the Father.  To mend our broken hearts.  To reconcile us to one another.  And, now He sends us out as His ambassadors of reconciliation into the world! 

“First, Go and Be Reconciled to Your Brother; Then Come and Bring Your Gift.” Matthew 5:24

(Jesus, King of Reconciliation)

We are His singers, spreading the sound waves of hope and restoration in four gracious ways:

1.)  Instigating reconciliation in the midst of broken hearts and relationships.

2.)  Living out acts of forgiveness that bring hope and healing to hurt lives.

3.)  Excelling in grace and love by going beyond the letter of the law and breaking into the realm of the Spirit of the Law, making things new.

4.)  Stepping out in courageous transparency.  No longer afraid to say I messed up – I am not perfect.  Instead, meeting with other broken people and sharing real life in a uniquely powerful way.  Opening up our lives, by exposing where we fell down and how God met us right there face down on the ground!

It is all about Jesus breaking through the sound barriers we have built in our head and our heart that say don’t come in.  But He sticks his hand right through and grabs hold of us proclaiming, “you are mine and I want to live with you forever.”

Honestly, at first, it can be a little scary.  The air seems quite thin when we let go and He takes hold.  But when He pulls us through to the others side – the oxygen is pure and sweet, lifting the heart and soul to new heights!

- Andy