1 . The Big Idea: Self-Sacrifice makes you marriage material.
Topics: Husband Wife Marriage Self-sacrifice
Scripture: Ephesians 5:25-33 Titus 2:3-5
see illustration
2 . The Big Idea: You become what is in your heart.
Topics: Prayer Heart Evil Thought
Scripture: Psalms 36:1-4 Matthew 12:34-37
see illustration
3 . The Big Idea: Where do you find forgiveness?
Topics: Confession Repentance Forgiveness Reconciliation
Scripture: James 1:23-24 Luke 19:2-10
see illustration
4 . The Big Idea: Revenge poisons the heart.
Topics: Revenge Violence Sin Forgiveness
Scripture: Hebrews 12:14-15 Matthew 5:43-48
see illustration
The Big Idea:
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Self-Sacrifice makes you marriage material.
Scene Setup:
Peter Parker knocks on Aunt May's door. When she answers it, he has a surprise for her about M.J.
Scene:
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Application:
In all of the Spider-Man films, Aunt May represents morality and reason. She is the soul of these movies, so it is no surprise that when Peter wants to talk about taking "the big step" with his girlfriend, MJ, that Aunt May gives him good advice -- and a challenge. She says, "A man has to be understanding, and put his wife before himself." She asks Peter if he can do that, and Peter responds, "Yeah, I think I can." And then she offers Peter her engagement ring to give to MJ, symbolizing the continuity of marriage as an institution.
The Apostle Paul commanded husbands to love their wives. It seems obvious, doesn't it? What man would marry a woman with whom he wasn't in love? And yet, there is the command. Paul recognized that love is not a fleeting feeling, but a lifetime commitment to act in a loving way, every day, whether the husband happened to feel loving that day or not. Love is demonstrated in sacrifice, and the example Paul gives is the way the Christ sacrificed Himself for the Church, and gave His life for her. So the best way that husbands can demonstrate Christ to the world is by sacrificially loving their wives. In doing so, they exemplify the great mystery between Christ and the Church.
The character of Aunt May also is a testament to the idea that one of the greatest gifts than an older generation can offer the younger generation is that of a good example. She had a loving marriage for a lifetime, and now wishes to pass along that legacy to Peter in the symbol of her ring. The Apostle Paul wrote to Titus, telling him to have the older women in his church teach the younger wives how to love their husbands. When Christian men and women love their spouses for a lifetime, they give example and strength to those who follow.
Illustration's Sermon General's Warning:
None for this scene.
Topics: Husband Wife Marriage Self-sacrifice Tradition
Scripture: Ephesians 5:25-33 Titus 2:3-5 Colossians 3:18-19 1 Peter 3:7-7
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Keywords: husband, husbands, wife, wives, marriage, sacrifice, self-sacrifice, tradition, traditions, marry, love, loves, lover
Rating: PG-13 Genre: Action/Adventure
DVD chapter and times not yet available.
The Big Idea:
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You become what is in your heart.
Scene Setup:
After trying to pass off some bogus shots of Spider-Man as authentic, Eddie Brock is exposed as a fraud, and fired. He makes his way to a church, kneels down, and prays a most unusual prayer.
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Application:
Eddie Brock is on his knees, in a church, looking at a statue of the crucified Christ, when he prays his homicidal prayer. And, in a startling way, he was answered -- but not by God. In the final book in the Chronicles of Narnia, "The Last Battle," C.S. Lewis explains through his Christ-figure character, Aslan, that not all prayers addressed to God are really prayed to Him. When our hearts are filled with evil intent, then even if we say we are praying to God, we are actually fooling ourselves. God does not answer prayers offered in the spirit of the father of lies. Even as Spider-Man struggles to free himself from the tight grip of evil; Eddie makes himself a ripe host for the black, oozing venom that envelopes him, giving external expression to the depravity in his heart.
A wise man once said, "Going to church won't make you any more a Christian than going to the Elks Club will make you an elk." Many people believe that because of their relationship to Christians or Christianity that they know God, but Jesus warns that many will call Him "Lord" and yet will be rejected by Him because their hearts and actions betray them as liars. It is not externals that connect us to God, but what is within our hearts. That which takes up our thought time, those ideas we cherish, our deepest desires -- these are what ultimately will come out and reveal us for what we are.
Do you share God's thoughts? Do you desire what He desires? We will become what is in our hearts. It is important, then, for us to allow God to renew us, to make us into new creatures, to conform us into His image, so that we may be one with Him, enter into His family, and truly become His children.
Illustration's Sermon General's Warning:
The last moments of this clip are pretty frightening. Eddie is enveloped in a black goo that transforms him into a demonic looking creature. Use discretion.
Topics: Prayer Heart Evil Thought Murder
Scripture: Psalms 36:1-4 Matthew 12:34-37 Luke 6:45-49 John 8:38-45 Hebrews 3:12-18
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Keywords: pray, prayer, heart, evil, thought, think, inner man, murder
Rating: PG-13 Genre: Action/Adventure
DVD chapter and times not yet available.
The Big Idea:
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Where do you find forgiveness?
Scene Setup:
Peter comes to Aunt May's house to confess that he has wronged MJ.
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Application:
Half of Aunt May's advice is good, but the other half -- though well-meant and widely believed -- is wrong. When Peter confesses to Aunt May that he has hurt his girlfriend, MJ, and no longer knows what to do, Aunt May tells him: "You start by doing the hardest thing -- you forgive yourself."
Many people believe that getting on the right path begins with forgiving yourself, but that way of thinking is based on the premise that you have sinned against yourself. The Scriptures tell a different story. We are told that when we sin against others, the first (and hardest) thing we have to do is seek their forgiveness. The other acts we are told we need to do are to repent and seek God's forgiveness -- because ultimately all sins are sins against God. Nowhere in the Bible are people ever told to forgive themselves, in fact, it is assumed that people will all too quickly forget transgressions they have committed against others (James 1:23-24).
The part of Aunt May's advice that is good is that once we have repented and sought forgiveness, we are to try to "make it right." Jesus taught His disciples to put things right with people they have offended even before making an offering to God. Zaccheaus, a thieving tax collector who received a visit from Jesus, untimately repented and promised that everyone he had defrauded would be repaid four fold.
When we do wrong to others, when we sin against them, our responsibility is not to forgive ourselves, but to seek forgiveness from them and try to make right what we have done wrong. It may not be the pop-psychology way, but it is God's way.
Illustration's Sermon General's Warning:
None for this scene.
Topics: Confession Repentance Forgiveness Reconciliation Restoration
Scripture: James 1:23-24 Luke 19:2-10 Matthew 5:23-24 1 John 1:8-10 Psalms 51:1-13
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Keywords: confess, confession, sin, sinner, sinning, sins, repent, repentance, forgive, forgiven, forgiveness, reconcile, reconciliation, restore, restoration
Rating: PG-13 Genre: Action/Adventure
DVD chapter and times not yet available.
The Big Idea:
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Revenge poisons the heart.
Scene Setup:
Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spider-Man) comes to tell Aunt May that Spider-Man has finally killed the man who murdered her husband, but he is surprised by her response.
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Application:
Peter is surprised by Aunt May's reaction to the death of Flint Marko -- the murderer of her husband. She is not happy. She does not believe in personal vengeance. She feels the depth of the loss of her husband, but she tells Peter that it isn't "for us to say whether a person deserves to live or die." As the spiritual anchor in the Spider-Man films, she cuts through all of the notions of who deserves what, and straight to the heart of Peter's motivation -- revenge. She says that revenge is a poison that can take us over and turn us "into something ugly."
God warns us against allowing bitterness to rise up in our hearts to defile us. Revenge, even including murderous desires, may seem right to us when we are victimized, but if the wages of sin are death, then we need to take great care about the sinful paths we put our feet upon.
One of the most common of human emotions is the desire to "get even" when we feel we have been wronged. When people do evil to us, we feel compelled to do evil in response, thinking that doing so will set everything to rights. We want to hurt those who hurt us; some of us even wish death on those who would harm us. We are so steeped in this belief that the message of the Scriptures is counterintuitive -- it doesn't make sense. Some might even call it "foolish."
But Jesus taught that we are not to seek vengeance, but to leave that to God. Instead, He teaches us to love our enemies, and to pray for them. We don't even the score when we repay evil for evil; we just create more evil. Instead, Jesus tells us to "overcome evil with good." All of us were once evil, sinners, and enemies of God. But He chose to love us while we were still His enemies. Jesus did not die for perfect people, but for the very people who hated Him (Romans 5:6-10). If we are to be conformed into His image, and if we are to transform the world with His message, then we need to be prepared to follow in His footsteps, living a life of forgiveness and mercy.
Illustration's Sermon General's Warning:
None for this scene.
Topics: Revenge Violence Sin Forgiveness Murder
Scripture: Hebrews 12:14-15 Matthew 5:43-48 Proverbs 24:29-29 Romans 12:17-21 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15
Verses Powered by StudyLight.org
Keywords: revenge, vengeance, violence, sin, murder, evil, forgive, forgiveness, murder, love
Rating: PG-13 Genre: Action/Adventure
DVD chapter and times not yet available.
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