What Can Superhero Movies Tell Us About Our Greatest Needs?
Some of the most epic stories are ones where someone saves someone else. Whether physical, emotional, or mental, we love seeing needs getting met and lives being restored. We love salvation stories.
We also tend to like the kinds of stories that provide rebirth and second chances. We rejoice when the girl gives the guy a second chance or when a deadbeat dad comes home and promises to change. We love redemption stories as well.
Our love for these stories did not begin with superhero films or family dramas, though. Even the earliest written texts tell stories salvation and redemption. While the specifics of the narratives have changed, the themes stay the same.
So, what does this interest in salvation and redemption show us about humanity?
It shows us just how badly we want these things. We know we need to be saved from something. We know we need to be redeemed. But why?
That is what this study will look at. By examining God’s Holy Word, we will see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ meets our greatest needs, how it provides us with the salvation and redemption we really need. Better than any film or book, the Gospel not only tells us a story about salvation and redemption, it invites us to participate. The stories we will look have the power to actually save and redeem us, but we have to trust that they are true. More importantly, we have to trust the One whom they point to: Jesus Christ.
Today’s scriptures function as a summary of the whole gospel. They tell the whole story in a few verses. We will closely examine each point over the coming days, but you don’t have to be an expert on the story to trust in it. If you haven’t already, you can start putting your faith in Jesus Christ. As we will see in these verses, He is the savior and redeemer that we most desperately need.
CVoutreach.com
23For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
Romans 3:23-26
1So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
5Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
Romans 8:1-5
4But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Ephesians 2:4-5
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