Inception: “The War of the Mind”Faith & Film Series: October 16th, 2011

Well, as you know, we launched our newest sermon series last week called Faith and Film,

- where we’re looking at important themes found within some of today’s best films and then we interact with those themes through the lens of God’s Word.

- Well, let me just say that movie we’ll be using as a backdrop this morning is a good one… at the very least, original!

- And, by the $820 million dollars it grossed worldwide, I’m obviously not the only one who feels this way.

The movie Inception has the feel of the typical heist-type film like Oceans 11… except that Inception has a whole other layer to it.

- In fact, it’s one of the more complicated movies I’ve seen in a lot of years, so, let me try and give you a little overview.

- The main character, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is a man named Cobb, who, rather than hack computer systems, hacks minds…

- invading people’s thoughts and stealing their ideas and secrets from the vault of their unconscious.

Basically, he’s hired by corporations to steel information from the minds of corporate and government leaders.

- But, for all his incredible intellect, Cobb has a problem. He’s been accused of killing his late wife and is forced to flee the country…

- keeping him from seeing his two small children. I’ll explain a little more about that later. So, he’s living his life on the run.

Then, one day, Cobb gets an offer that just might open the door for him to go back to his old life. But the price is pretty steep.

- Rather than take information out of someone’s mind, a rich man named Seito hires Cobb to plant an idea… a lie… into someone’s subconscious.

- It’s the idea of “inception”… the planting of a thought or idea, basically, a lie… into someone’s mind that will eventually grow into particular set of behaviors.

So, Cobb assembles a team and begins working on an idea that they can plant in the mind of a rival mogul named Robert Fisher…

- that would eventually cause him to disband his late father’s corporate empire , preventing them from gaining a monopoly over the global energy market.

- But to make this work, they’ll have to sedate him… and then plant this idea three levels deep into his subconscious.

- And from here, the action begins! Let’s take a look…

CLIP #1: (Seito & Cobb).

“The seed we plant in this man’s mind will grow into an idea. And this idea will define him. It could change everything about him.”

In 2 Corinthians 2:11 Paul talks about the need to understand the devil’s schemes in our lives.

- And I believe that this movie illustrates one of the most profound schemes satan utilizes in order to derail us from the life of purpose and blessing God has for us.

- In other words, what Cobb and his team are trying to do in planting thoughts into the mind of Fischer is not at all unlike what satan is trying to do in our lives…

- to implant in our minds a lie that has the power to redefine us… to rob us of so much of the good that God intends for us.

You see, in one way or another, most of us have one or two issues in our lives that we struggle to break free from.

- Maybe you struggle with anger. And, in the midst of raging you’re aware enough to ask yourself, “Why am I making such a huge deal of this?”And yet, you feel powerless to stop.

- Maybe you struggle with food… and late at night you’re eating more in a half hour than you did in the previous 8 hours.

- And you think to yourself… “What am I doing? I’m not even hungry?”

Maybe you struggle with commitment in relationships… and you find yourself pulling away from someone you know is a trustworthy person.

2

- And yet, as irrational as it seems even to you, you helplessly withdraw anyway.

- Perhaps you’re dealing with anxiety or perfectionism or control issues or fear of rejection or self-hatred or workaholism.

- One way or another, we’ve all had an issue or two like these in our lives.

And what can be so frustrating and puzzling about this is that, as we follow Jesus, our expectation or hope is that things would be different.

- We know what the bible says… that we are new creations in Christ… that, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us... and all that’s true.

- And yet there’s still those one or two areas of your life that, maybe, you can’t get past… where you haven’t really experienced freedom. And so, the question is, “Why?”

Why is it that God’s presence and love and grace are so rich in so many areas of my life, but in these one or two areas, I feel so defeated?

- Truth is, we all ask ourselves that question at one time or another. And our default answer is typically,

- “well, obviously, it’s my fault. I don’t pray enough. I don’t read the Bible enough. I don’t have enough will power, I just have to try harder…”

But, what if there were something else going on? What if, to some degree, we’ve been the victims of “inception”?

- What if, in the same way Cobb and his team are trying to implant an idea in Fisher’s subconscious, satan has successfully planted lies in our minds as well…

- and these lies ends up defining us and working their way into our relationships and habits… keeping us from coming into the fullness that God has for us.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 that “though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension

3

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

You see, what we’re really talking about this morning is a battle… a spiritual battle over whose “truth” we’re going to believe...

- And that’s why this battle we’re engaged in is first and foremost a battle for the mind…

- where satan sets out to establish a stronghold in your life that sets itself, as Paul writes here, up against the knowledge of God.

- And the way that we fight against this, according to Paul, is to take every thought captive through Christ’s “divine power.”

And that starts with becoming aware of those thoughts that go against what we know is true.

- You see, so often we let thoughts just drift in and out of our minds without any kind of filter.

- You do something wrong at work and you start whispering under your breath… “what an idiot I am!”

- But what Paul’s saying is that we stop those thoughts in their tracks and say, “Wait… where is this thought coming from? Is it true? Does it line up with what Scripture says?”

We need to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ... so it conforms to what Jesus says is true… not satan.

- Truth is, this strategy of inception lines up with other things we know about satan.

- In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul described satan as the “god of this age.” In Ephesians 2:2, satan is described as the “ruler of the unseen world.”

- In other words, the kingdom of darkness is not only active in this world but has authority in this world.

When Jesus was in the desert for forty days, satan told Him that “if you bow down to me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world,”

- Jesus didn’t deny that satan had that authority, He didn’t say, “Hey, those things aren’t yours to give.”

- But, instead, told satan that He would “worship the Lord God and serve Him only.”

4

- In John 10:10, Jesus described satan’s mission statement like this… that he comes to us to “steal, kill, and destroy.”

- In John 8:44, Jesus said satan “was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

- In other words, lies are one of the most powerful weapon in satan’s arsenal against us.

And what this means, in each of our lives, is that the enemy will create situations, which will make it more possible for him to implant lies…

- Lies that we might eventually believe about ourselves, about God, and about those around us.

- And these lies have the potential of changing everything… - keeping us from having the kind of intimate relationship with

Jesus that we’re meant to have… - and from bearing the kind of fruit we’re meant to bear.

During his early teenage years, a guy named Greg started to get into a lot of trouble, both in and out of school.

- It started as far back as the age of 4. You see, each Christmas, Greg’s grandmother, who played a huge part in raising him…

- would come over with a lot of presents for his two sisters and older brother… but almost nothing for Greg.

- And when the girls asked their grandmother why she didn’t have more presents for him, the grandmother would always answer the same way…

- Greg was not a good boy this year… because he was a bad boy.

And so, even today, years and years later, this man, who’s now walking with Jesus, recognizes how deeply that lie took root in his soul.

- The lie that he was inherently broken, no good, and of no use.- It was implanted in his mind and heart to such a degree that he

began living his life out of that lie… - hurting those who got close to him, getting fired from several

jobs, and so on.

5

If, like me, you didn’t grow up in a home like that, something like that might seem next to impossible.

- But a number of you grew up being called names by people… whether they were people in authority or just some kids in a playground. Either way…

- you know how that stuck in you… how hard it’s been to shake free of that lie that had been implanted so long ago.

- “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Well… who came up with that one?!

So, now, while everyone else sees their mistakes as opportunities to grow, for you, even the smallest one adds weight to the lie that you’re stupid… that you’re useless.

- And so, for you, perhaps that lie manifests as perfectionism… not because you like things done well…

- but because you’re terrified of looking like you’re anything other than competent and intelligent.

- All because of the lie that was implanted.

An eight year old girl is sexually assaulted by a relative and the message she’s received from this horrible crime against her is that sex is dirty, sex is painful, and sex is dangerous.

- And so years later, even though she’s married to a wonderful, godly man, she can’t ever enjoy the sexual relationship God intended for them to have…

- even though she knows that sex in marriage is a gift from God.

But every time her husband initiates with her, she freezes up and withdraws…

- all because of that lie that was implanted in her when she was eight… and now it’s tearing apart their marriage.

- You see, if the enemy can successfully implant a lie in the core of our being, than, left undealt with, that lie can alter our lives.

Now, as the movie unfolds, you begin to find out more and more about Cobb and his relationship with his wife, Mal.

- She had been a partner with him in this emotional/intellectual espionage.

6

- In fact, at one point, while Cobb and his wife Mal were experimenting with the idea of extracting information from deep within someone’s subconscious…

- By putting themselves in a dream within a dream within a dream… Mal gets caught in a place called limbo…

- where she ends up believing, for what seems like 50 years, that the dream world she’s living in is, in fact, reality.

In this next clip, Cobb and Mal were trying to explore dream states in the early days…

CLIP #2:

Stuck in this dream world, Cobb knows that the only way for her to get out is for her to kill herself in the dream… which she does.

- But now this idea that life is a dream… that it isn’t real… is planted in her mind… a reality “vertigo” of sorts.

- And so, even after Mal’s living in reality again, she’s never quite sure… and ends up taking her life for real.

- For those of you who’ve seen the movie, you know that a lot of the story is dealing with Cobb’s intense regret for having ever gotten Mal involved in this.

And that guilt causes Cobb to see Mal in all his dreams. It’s not really her… just a projection from his own mind.

- Psychologically, I think it’s Cobb’s way of dealing with his guilt over her death. Which is why… every time he sees her, she’s always out to sabotage him.

- Now the reason Cobb is so riddled with guilt over this is shown in this last clip.

CLIP #3:

“The smallest seed of an idea can grow—it can grow to define you or destroy you.” (DiCaprio to Ellen Page, Ariadne)

So, you see from this that Mal’s demise started with an implanted lie that changed everything for her.

7

- So, let me ask you, is there any lie that’s been spoken to you that you’ve come to believe even though the truth of God’s word says it’s not true?

- What lie has satan and your experiences in this broken world conspired together… to get you off God’s intended course in your life?

Proverbs 23:7 says “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is”. That’s why the battle is in the mind, because satan knows how powerful our minds are.

- So, what lie might you have believed & held onto in your life? - Maybe it’s a sense of worthlessness that came through

rejection… something so many people struggle with.- It may go all the way back to bullies on the playground or from

a parent that was overly punitive or overly passive, etc. - But one way or another, the message you walk away with is that

there’s something wrong with you.

Maybe it goes back to the breakup of a meaningful relationship… and the message you live with is that you are fundamentally unlovely…

- and so you live your life with that seed of rejection in you… fearing any kind of abandonment…

- believing that the people you love them most will always leave you… including God.

To fight against this, you might either pull back so that no one can disappoint you…

- or step so far in that you’re always trying to do everything for everyone because you’ve bought the lie that the moment you stop, they’ll simply reject you.

- And if that’s true in your relationship with those around you, it’s probably reflects your relationship with God…

- where you fear that one little slip up means that He doesn’t love you any more.

You know rationally that none of it’s true… but you feel controlled by it nonetheless.

- And even if you know where the lies come from, you still live with the idea that there’s something wrong with you…

8

- And, over time you believe another lie that tells you that there’s little hope that you can ever change.

And all those verses of Scripture that promise God’s blessing… well, they’re for other people.

- In your mind, there’s something wrong with who you are, and, because of that, you act out…

- You have a few drinks each day to help ease the pain. And soon, you find that you can’t function without those drinks… without that pack of cigarettes.

- Maybe you eat… you overwork… you rage… you internalize it till depression breaks you down… you shop, you get stuck in pornography. The possibilities go on and on.

And, as a pastor, I’ll tell you… that some of the most hurting people are the ones you’d least expect to be hurting.

- The lie that they bought into caused them to work hard at making their exterior seem so much more in control than who they are on the inside.

- So, they’re always dressed to the hilt… their drivenness has them working 80 hour weeks… and all you see is success.

- But they’re never content… so they try harder and harder always trying to prove that the lie isn’t true.

Lady Gaga is one of the biggest pop stars in the world right now… as big as Madonna was in the 80s.

- Not long ago, she was video taped backstage before her concert at Madison Square Garden. I want to share a brief clip…

- VIDEO CLIP #4, Lady Gaga- "I just sometimes feel like a loser still, you know? It's crazy

because we're at the Garden but I still sometimes feel like a loser kid in high school."

- “I just want to be queen for them and sometimes I don't feel like one."

No matter how much we’ve accomplished, no matter how much success you’ve achieved, the lies won’t just disappear on their own.

9

- But what Paul reminds us is that we’ve been given weapons… not of this world… to fight against the lies we’ve been told.

- And that these weapons have divine power not to lessen the impact of these lies… but to demolish them!

- To demolish whatever strongholds may have been planted in your life that are based on lies rather than the truth of God’s Word.

But not only can those weapons fight against those lies & strongholds, but we’re told that they can demolish every argument or mindset that…

- That has been established inside of us as a result of “doing life” in a broken world.

- Those mindsets can come from just about anywhere… such as your belief system before you began walking with Jesus.

- Or from deep rejection or traumatic experiences that effect how you view the world around you.

- Things that affect your ability to understand and receive God’s love in your life… or the love of another person.

What is it for you? What mindset might you have in your life that keep you, for example, from receiving what God has for you?

- Insecurity (God won’t care for me)? Rejection (God can’t love me)? Condemnation (I’m never good enough)? Performance (He can’t love me b/c I’m not spiritual enough)

- We read in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that satan blinds the minds of the unbeliever…

- Always trying to keep us from seeing that Jesus has the power to break this strongholds and mindsets that he sets up in our lives.

Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8 that Satan is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

- And he will always prey on our weakness. He knows what discourages you. He knows the areas of fear in your life…

- and he will go after those areas… to plant lies and create mindsets that will keep you from experiencing the Father’s love.

- He will never play fair and will never feel sorry for the hurt he inflicts.

10

So, how do we defeat this? How do we stand against the lies Satan whispers into our minds & the strongholds established in our lives?

- Again… we must recognize them for what they are… lies. And then renounce those lies & strongholds with the truth.

- You mess up in an area that trips you up over and over again… and as you’re about to come to God, you hear that voice…

- “Really, again you’re gonna ask God for forgiveness. Why don’t you fix this area of your life and then go to God?”

As soon as the words touch your ear, you need to recognize just how far it falls from the truth of God’s Word.

- Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all things, guard your heart because it is the wellspring of life.”

- You need to guard your heart and declare… “It’s not true that God won’t forgive me… He’s already forgiven me… and I choose to receive and walk in that forgiveness!”

If you live with the lie that something terrible is inevitably going to happen to you, then verbally renounce the lie…

- and speak out loud the truth that “I am safe in the shadow of the Almighty… the One who has numbered the very hairs on my head will never leave me nor forsake me. I don’t have to be afraid.”

- Whatever it might be that you struggle with, be purposeful in identifying it… and then make it, as an act of worship…

- an opportunity to declare what you know to be true from God’s Word.

Do you remember, from Ephesians 6, what the first piece of the armor is that Paul tells us to put on in order to protect ourselves from the schemes of satan? It is the Belt of Truth.

- In, Jesus said, in John 8:32, that “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

- Don’t ever forget that Jesus’ heart is for those strongholds not simply to be weakened… but demolished.

- Jesus wants to utterly destroy the strongholds, which hurt us so much in our lives.

11

No matter where you’re at this morning… take time this week and ask God to show you if there are any lies or mindsets…

- That you may have bought into that are contrary to the truth of God’s Word. Just pray…

- “God, show me the lie I’ve believed in my life… the lie that’s robbed me of joy and connection and intimacy and peace.”

- You see, as you expose the lie and embrace the truth is His Word, you’ll begin to experience more and more freedom.

And then, lastly, beyond identifying specific lies that satan has implanted in our minds and mindsets that he’ll always take advantage of to hurt us…

- we need to embrace the reality that, at the very core of who we are as Jesus followers, we are IN CHRIST!

- In Romans 8:1, for example, we’re told that there is “therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.”

- Over and over again the NT uses that language… that we are in HIM.

So much so, that whatever is true of Jesus, is true of you… because you are IN HIM.

- Jesus is perfectly righteous. And even though we look at our lives and have to face up to the fact that we’re pretty far from being perfectly righteous.

- Because we’re IN CHRIST, we’ve been given His righteousness.

- Paul tells us that we’ve been made holy and blameless because of Jesus. We’re holy and blameless because Jesus is holy and blameless.

We’re perfectly loved and accepted and welcomed by the Father because Jesus was perfectly loved and accepted and welcomed by the Father.

- Jesus was an overcomer… and because of that… because we are in Christ… we too are overcomers!

- This is our reality… this is what is true of us. - You see, so much of what spiritual warfare is about is exposing

lies and embracing truth.

12

So, when the thought comes… take that thought captive! And declare, “that is NOT who I am.”

- It may have been who I was, but in Christ, it is NOT who I am now. I am not broken,

- I am not useless, I am not an object to be used, I am not weak, I am not incapable, my best days are NOT behind me.

Jesus has given us every divine weapon we need to demolish all the lies and mindsets and all the patterns of behavior and responses they produce in our lives.

- Jesus has come as our Rescuer… in order to set us free from the bill of goods satan has sold us…

- And to lead us into the intimate, abundant life that comes from walking in deep friendship and fellowship with the Father.

13