Quote from Forum Archives on February 24, 2004, 1:08 pm

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

PASSION
February 22, 2004

Text: Matthew 10:24-39

It is extremely unusual for churches across America to be a primary
avenue of promotion for a major motion picture. Now churches have
promoted and shown smaller scale and special distributed movies from
producers such as Worldwide Pictures - Billy Graham’s films - and other
Christian producers. But the promotion of a major “Hollywood-type” movie
production is a bit out of the ordinary.

Yet, that is exactly what is happening with The Passion of the Christ,
the movie produced and directed by Mel Gibson which is scheduled for
release this Wednesday. As you already know, I have been doing some
promoting of the movie through our newsletter and bulletin, by obtaining
and distributing pastor’s guides to the movie, and in discussions at
Bible studies and the Deacons meetings. Some of you have also been
sharing what you know about the movie with others. Consequently, First
Baptist Church is also one of those churches across America promoting the
movie.

Is this the right thing to do? Should we be diverting some of our
resources of time and money into this type of promotion? Or should we be
leaving it up to the normal channels of movie advertising and promotion
and, like every other movie, let them figure out what succeeds and what
fails?

Personally, I think that the Christians promoting The Passion of the
Christ are doing the right thing. That doesn’t mean that we are not
taking a chance, since a lot of Christians across America have not seen
the movie first-hand yet. There is always a risk in promoting something
you haven’t seen first-hand. Trust me; I know. Still, I think that we are
doing the right thing for some very important reasons.

First, a lot of Christians who we can trust have been privileged to view
the film in earlier screenings, and their responses and testimonies have
been overwhelmingly powerful. The Reverend Billy Graham has said, "After
watching The Passion of the Christ, I feel as if I have actually been
there. I was moved to tears. I doubt if there has ever been a more
graphic and moving presentation of Jesus' death and resurrection." Writes
Dr. James Dobson, "The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson is one of the
most deeply disturbing and powerful movies I've ever seen, but one that
everyone should watch. I recommend it highly." Dr. Bill Bright, president
of Campus Crusade for Christ before his death, commented that "Mel Gibson
captures with explosive poignancy the final excruciating hours of Jesus'
life. This movie will forever change your view of God Himself, and what
He did for us all on that dark day in history as He endured an
ignominious trial and hung on the cross." Reverend David Mains of
Mainstay Ministries spoke about his reflection of the movie at a 50-Day
Spiritual Adventure seminar, which some other members and I did attend
first-hand. Among his comments, David shared that seeing this realistic
portrayal of the torture and the crucifixion that Jesus endured for each
of us led him to sadly wonder how he could still be hanging on to any
petty, un-Christlike attitudes, thoughts, and actions. In fact, David
Mains is so certain of the movie’s potential impact upon viewers that he
is making the recommendation that churches that typically use 50-Day
Spiritual Adventure resources during Lent plan their Adventure for
another time of the year so that they can concentrate on reflecting on
and responding to the movie’s impact during this time of the year. This
is the decision we have made. Over the first four Sundays in Lent, I will
be preaching a series from Isaiah 53. The comments of these and other
leaders in the Christians community give me confidence that I can not
only recommend this film to others, but can also expect to witness
results from those who see it.

Second, this is the first movie in many years having to do with the life
of Jesus produced by a “Hollywood-style” company that actually strives to
honor the ministry of Jesus. Many have been released, such as The Final
Temptation of Christ, which are outright false teachings about Jesus. In
The Passion of the Christ, Jesus is honored and his love for humanity is
shown.

“Passion” is a word that means a couple of things. I will refer to the
more familiar meaning, “intense emotion,” in a moment. The older, less
familiar meaning is “suffering.” Those of us in church are familiar with
its use during the week between Palm and Easter Sundays. The passion of
Jesus is all about his suffering. Of course, we well know that his was a
suffering for a purpose beyond all others. Many people in the history of
the world have suffered. Quite a few have even suffered for someone else,
or for some ideology. We know of testimonies from the brutal death camps
of Nazi Germany where someone purposely went to the gas chambers in place
of someone else. The stories where the guards did not care who went, they
just needed to meet a quota. So an older woman or a man would take the
place of a young mother. We know the testimonies from many soldiers who
left the life they knew to suffer greatly from the hostile environments
and enemy in places across the Pacific and Europe and Korea and Vietnam
and the Middle East. Even Christians have suffered at the hands of
tyrants for not denying their faith.

We all appreciate the sacrifices others have made on our behalf. But all
of them pale compared to the sacrificial suffering of Jesus. From his
beginning, Jesus came for the purpose of sacrifice and suffering. He did
not have to. This was not something that Jesus needed for himself. Only a
love so deep and so divine as to be ultimately incomprehensible drove
Jesus to accept the burden he carried. Jesus had the power to command
legions of angels to protect him and to carry him away from danger, but
he did not call upon them. Jesus suffered and died for our sins - your
sins - my sins. Jesus stepped in between God and me and “took the
bullet.” He took the ridicule and the beating and the crucifixion in my
place. He took the rejection that God requires for each of us because of
our sin. Jesus did all of this because without his sacrifice, we are
eternally separated and dead from God. The Passion of Christ is about the
last twelve hours of Jesus’ life. It is about the suffering, the
“passion,” of Jesus. If you go see The Passion of the Christ, imagine
yourself where Jesus is. It would be only a small taste of what our
misery would be without Jesus.

Third, “passion” also means “intense emotion.” How did this movie become
reality in the first place? “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will
also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me
before men, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” There are so many
things that Jesus said and taught that brings us comfort as Christians
that we forget some of his more startling statements. In his Daily Bible
Study series, William Barclay writes: “If a man is proud to acknowledge
that Jesus Christ is his Master, Jesus Christ will be proud to
acknowledge that he is his servant. It is the plain fact of history that
if there had not been men and women in the early Church who in face of
death and agony refused to deny their Master, there would be no Christian
Church today. The Church of today is built on the unbreakable loyalty of
those who held fast to their faith…

It is still possible for a man to deny Jesus Christ. (i) We may deny him
with our words. It is told of J. P. Mahaffy, the famous scholar and man
of the world from Trinity College, Dublin, that when he was asked if he
was a Christian, his answer was: ‘Yes, but not offensively so.’ He meant
that he did not allow his Christianity to interfere with the society he
kept and the pleasure he loved. Sometimes we say to other people,
practically in so many words, that we are Church members, but not to
worry about it too much; that we have no intention of being different;
that we are prepared to take our full share in all the pleasures of the
world; and that we do not expect people to take any special trouble to
respect any vague principles that we may have. The Christian can never
escape the duty of being different from the world. It is not our duty to
be conformed to the world; it is our duty to be transformed from it. (ii)
We can deny him by our silence. A French writer tells of bringing a young
wife into an old family. The old family had not approved of the marriage,
although they were too conventionally polite ever to put their objections
into actual words and criticisms. But the young wife afterwards said that
her whole life was made a misery by ‘the menace of things unsaid.’ There
can be a menace of things unsaid in the Christian life. Again and again
life brings us the opportunity to speak some word for Christ, to utter
some protest against evil, to take some stand, and to show what side we
are on. Again and again on such occasions it is easier to keep silence
than to speak. But such a silence is a denial of Jesus Christ. It is
probably true that far more people deny Jesus Christ by cowardly silence
than by deliberate words. (iii) We can deny him by our actions. We can
live in such a way that our life is a continuous denial of the faith
which we profess. He who has given his allegiance to the gospel of purity
may be guilty of all kinds of petty dishonesties, and breaches of strict
honour. He who has undertaken to follow the Master who bade him take up a
cross can live a life which is dominated by attention to his own ease and
comfort. He who has entered the service of him who himself forgave and
who bade his followers to forgive can live a life of bitterness and
resentment and variance with his fellow-men. He whose eyes are meant to
be on that Christ who died for love of men can live a life in which the
idea of Christian service and Christian charity and Christian generosity
are conspicuous by their absence.” (William Barclay, “Matthew,” Revised
Edition, (c) 1975 William Barclay, First published by The Saint Andrew
Press Edinburgh, Scotland, First Edition, September, 1956, Second
Edition, May, 1958, Published by Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville,
Kentucky, CD-ROM version)

I am sure that we can all agree that “Hollywood” is a place where Jesus
has been disowned for a long time now. It is not the only place, but men
and women in the movie and entertainment industry have for a long time
taken it upon themselves not merely to disown Jesus, but to mock and
denounce and attack all that he died for and those who have been born
again because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

Naturally, then, a lot of people, including those with whom he has worked
and lived for many years, have been curious about what could have
possibly compelled Mel Gibson to conceive and embark on this project. In
response to the question why, Mr. Gibson’s own words are, “Because I had
to do it. I just had to do it. It wasn’t something that I had a choice
about. A lot of things came together to have me do the film, and I
resisted for quite some time…. Then there were all of these weird things
that happened, I mean really weird things that convinced me, that I
didn’t have a choice… Anyway, I’ve been thinking about doing something
like this for years, and I had every reason not to do it. God had to slap
me in the face to finally do it. You come to a point in your life when
you’ve made millions, you have a wife, and family, and a drinking problem
and you come to an edge of a window and you want to jump, but you don’t,
of course, but something holds you back. And what held me back was this
story - the story of Christ. This [film] was my meditation. I used His
wounds to heal mine.” (Julie Reid, “One Man’s Passion,” Worship Leader,
January/February 2004, pp. 16-17)

There is no doubt that this project has been under intense scrutiny and
pressure since its beginning. When asked about the controversy, Mr.
Gibson replied, “…Anytime you make a movie about Christ, it’s going to
create controversy. From day one, those people have been shooting arrows
at me. But when you’re making this kind of movie, you don’t want to allow
one bad thought in your head. It’s my nature to want to strike back, but
you can’t do that. I just had to look straight ahead and not look to the
right or to the left; it was only by God’s mercy. He gave me the
patience. During the making of this movie, I felt like I had to put on my
armor, my shield and my sword.” (Julie Reid, “One Man’s Passion,” Worship
Leader, January/February 2004, p. 17)

Not even someone with the worldly fame, success, and name recognition as
Mel Gibson is free from persecution when standing up for Jesus. It is in
this context that the words from Matthew ring out clearly, “Do not
suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to
bring peace, but a sword.” It is sad that the Prince of Peace is received
by some with such a resultant ferocity. As we know even in our day, the
truth of Christ is not merely met with apathy by some; it is met with the
intent to root it out and destroy everyone and everything that has a part
in it. There are those who seek not only to disown Jesus; they seek to
crucify him over and over and over.

Yet, the Church of Christ has survived and flourished. Just when we
thought that absolutely nothing moral or upright could possibly have
roots in the mainstream entertainment industry, this particular testimony
arises. Another man is willing to put a lot - if not everything - on the
line in order to acknowledge Jesus before men. In the words of Mr. Gibson
again, “I hope that people will understand the depth of what Christ did.”

So what about us? We will likely not have an opportunity to portray Jesus
to millions via the “big screen.” Most of us will not preach to the
masses about the love of Jesus. We know what we are supposed to do. Share
the love of God in Jesus to our families, our schoolmates, our fellow
workers, our neighbors. Mr. Gibson was asked who he made the film for:
the church or the unchurched. “Oh, that’s easy, the unchurched.” (Julie
Reid, “One Man’s Passion,” Worship Leader, January/February 2004, p. 17)

Whether you go see it or not; whether you like it or not; whether you
even think if it’s a good idea or not, this movie is just a tool. No
more, no less. There is only one way, though, that it can be a useful
tool in the hands of a Christian. We must use it to draw men and women to
the compelling truth of the salvation received through Jesus Christ. We
must share the testimony of what God has done. Mel Gibson might be making
that part easy for us. If more people have that mental picture of just
what Jesus went through and all that God has done for us, then maybe we
can help complete that connection by introducing them to the living
Christ. Another small tool that we have to help you is a tract on
salvation which includes references to the movie. They are in the top row
of the tract holder on the table. Take some with you; if we run out we
can order more. If you hear someone talking about the movie, or you talk
with someone about the movie, maybe this will help you share God’s
salvation with those who need to hear. Will The Passion of the Christ be
the start of a major revival like some have said? It’s possible, for with
God, all things He wills are possible. But I doubt that there will be
much revival if believers treat it just like another movie. Whether you
choose to see it or not, be prepared to share the faith for which Jesus
suffered and died. “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also
acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before
men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

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