Every Person Matters
34Who then will condemn us? No one-for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. (Romans 8:34)
Good morning family! I had the absolute privilege of attending my home church’s third sermon from their “At The Movies” series last night. “At The Movies” is Compassion Christian’s most popular sermon series. They take movies from popular culture and extract biblical truths to provide the audience with a fun, fresh teaching from some of Hollywood’s best work. So far this year, our pastors have used the movies “Creed“, “It’s a Wonderful Life“, and this week, “Bridge of Spies“, to give the congregation inspirational words of insight into Christian wisdom and truth. Last night’s sermon on “Bridge of Spies”, a Steven Spielberg masterpiece, inspired by the true-life events of James B. Donovan, a Harvard Law graduate who infamously defended Russian Spy Rudolf Abel at the height of the Cold War. While I had never personally viewed the movie by Spielberg, after hearing our lead pastor’s sermon, I would love to find some time to sit down and watch the movie in its entirety. I wish I could share the sermon from last night, but due to copyright issues, Compassion is unable to release the messages from “ATM”. But I can share the main messages from the sermon, and those are that “EVERY PERSON MATTERS”, we have an advocate through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ took our place on the cross to defend our lives and remove the death-sentence from our sins.
The story behind “Bridge of Spies” comes from the legal representation from Jim Donovan, who was selected to defend convicted Russian Spy Rudolf Abel, who was arrested in New York for sending American nuclear information to the Russians in 1957. Donovan is successful in appealing to the NY Brooklyn court to reduce Abel’s death sentence to a 30-year sentence. Donovan’s reasoning for fighting for Abel’s life is that “every life matters” and that Abel should not be sentenced to die for just doing the job he was sent to do. Pastor Cam did an amazing job speaking of our Christian duty to fight for every one’s life while here on earth.
Pastor Cam also preached brilliantly on the comparison of Donovan’s role as Abel’s advocate and how it reflected Jesus’ role as our advocate in the highest court. 1 John, Chapter 2, verse 1 teaches us that “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.” An advocate is a representative in the legal sense, but in the spiritual world, it is Jesus Christ who stands before the throne to defend all our mistakes and shortfalls.
Finally, the third point Pastor Cam focused on was from the real-life events of Donovan, Abel, and the capture of an American pilot, Francis Powers, who was shot down over Russian territory while piloting a U-2 spy plane for the CIA’s covert surveillance program. By fighting for Abel’s sentencing, Donovan was able to save Abel’s life and enable the freedom of Powers. This is a powerful visualization of the price Jesus paid for our freedom, by giving His life on the cross to set us free from the captivity of sin.
If you are like me and have never seen “Bridge of Spies”, I recommend sitting down and watching it. By the clips we saw in the service, it is a wonderfully made masterpiece in line with most of Spielberg’s work. Watch it and enjoy and see the biblical truths that you can extract from some of Hollywood’s most impressive works. Remember that every life matters, we have an advocate for our sins through Jesus Christ, and that advocate gave His life in the greatest prisoner exchange to ever occur: the life of the spotless Lamb for every broken soul to ever exist. You were Chosen by this advocate to live, so make sure you are living your life to honor that cost.
Common Sense Reborn 