Spider-Man

  

"I have always respected your teaching Jeff, but why are you talking about things like Star Wars and Superman? I wanna hear about the god-man Jesus Christ! Moreover, Why would you engage the arts as if to give them credibility?"

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: 'People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship - and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples.'

-Acts 17:22-24

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

-Acts 17:24-27

When Hindus pray, they begin by acknowledging Ganesha!

I believe in Superman the way some people believe in Jesus. I believe that He is real and that He matters. The fact that he is fictional does not really enter into it.

-Chris Roberson. who wrote Superman

I guess it’s not enough to defeat the bad guys from your own universe, now you have to face others from another world. Sound familiar?

He has to lay down his life if others are to live.

Yet each time he puts on the mask to fight crime, it represents a commitment to die to self for the sake of something bigger.

Victory comes through the denial of self.

"Perhaps those he most loves are able to live their best lives with his absence."

Our best life is with Christ, not apart from him. Not merely in the larger context but in every little area of our lives.

They dwell in their own countries but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do others; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws in their lives. They love all, and are persecuted by all. They are poor, yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute, and yet they enjoy complete abundance. . . They are reviled, and yet they bless. When they do good they are punished as evildoers; undergoing punishment, they rejoice because they are brought to life.

-Epistle to Diognetus

One: Each time Peter puts on the mask, it represents a commitment to die to self for the good of the world.

  

The temptation for those of us who wish to invite everyone into the fold of the faithful is to lower the cost of faith even further. Perhaps, we say, faith no longer requires so much sacrifice. Perhaps the time of suffering is past. In fact, there may be no cost to faith at all. Perhaps it’s the opposite. Perhaps faith paves the way to greater health and wealth. Jesus was never so eager to keep a crowd that he minimized the costs of faith (see John 6:60-66). He could not have been clearer that following him requires enormous sacrifice. “Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Every person should count the cost.

Like Spider-Man, there are many who lose their homes, friends, and community when they identify with the Savior.

"‘I bless you, Father, for judging me worthy of this hour, so that in the company of the martyrs I may share the cup of Christ.’ And the Lord was with him."

Many of you will never experience supernatural strength because you never attempt anything that requires it.

Two: There is an inherent tragedy in the character.

  

“Peter ... you’re struggling to have everything you want while the world tries to make you choose.”

If life is not a struggle between following the way of Jesus and following the way of the world, you have not yet met the real JESUS.

A world without struggle only comes in the real world where there are no beliefs, values, or objective truths.

Take up your cross and follow me!

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

You will choose between living for yourself or dying to yourself to live for something bigger and beyond.

“Your affections in this world—and your desires in your inner most being—have very little to do with the reality of other options that stir in your heart and soul.”

And the only way to be both happy and successful is through Holy Spirit power. A power that can even defeat Spider-Man, Superman, the Avengers, and every bad guy from every universe.

Make A Decision