Author Archives: pastorjeremyhelmuth

5 Reasons Why I Loved the Son of God Movie

Last Saturday, I took my wife to see the Son of God movie.  I had been hearing reports both good and bad about the movie.  Some people were calling it “heroic” while others were calling it “heretical.”  As a pastor leading over one thousand people in our local church, I felt the responsibility to go and see this movie for myself.  I did not want to speak out about the movie without seeing it first.  Also, this last week, I have been overwhelmed by people asking me my take on this movie.  Should they go see it or not?  They have heard about how the producers of the movie (i.e. Roma Downey) are new agers and wonder if they should support the movie because the producers seem off theologically.  Let me just say this about that last stream of logic: “If we avoided watching any media because people who produced the media had different beliefs then us, then we would have to cease watching 99% of media.”  I think it is ironic how people will avoid watching a movie like “Son of God” because the producers are new agers, but those same people will sit at home and watch a show on television that portrays unbiblical values without having a problem with it.  At least be consistent!  I personally believe that God can and does work through flawed people to get his message across.  An example of this is Mel Gibson with the “Passion” movie.

Because there is so much confusion surrounding this movie, I feel like I should let you know some facts about the movie.  These are not opinions, as many of the critics of the movie have displayed in their articles.  I am simply giving you the facts.

Fact #1: Jesus states clearly Who He is several times throughout the movie.  I have heard from several critics that this movie does not portray Jesus as the Son of God, but as some other kind of Jesus that is an imposter of the real one.  But if that is the case, then why did the movie portray Jesus saying these things about himself:

“I am the resurrection” (John 11:25).

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

We are told to test the spirits (1 John 4:1-3).  A false spirit would not portray Jesus as the way to heaven.  A false spirit would try to confuse people about who Jesus is, but in the movie, Jesus clearly states who He is.  I might not agree with every detail about the movie, but when I heard Jesus repeatedly telling the audience who He was, this helped my spirit rest and know that God’s Word is being spread in this movie theater.

Fact #2: The movie simultaneously connected the Jewish Passover in the Temple with Jesus’ death on the cross at Golgotha.  For me, this was my favorite part of the movie.  Whoever wrote this scene had done not just their homework, but their extra credit.  This is an often overlooked part of “Good Friday” for Christians.  We focus on the cross of Jesus, and yet fail to connect how Jesus was fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy that He was the Passover lamb.  The movie brilliantly showed a scene where a priest was holding a lamb in the temple and slit its throat and then at the same time showed Jesus on the cross.  This is God’s story being fulfilled!  The Passover lamb which saved the Hebrews from the angel of death and from Pharaoh came to complete fulfillment almost fifteen hundred years later in the death of Jesus Christ.

Fact #3: Jesus forgives sin while he heals a lame man in the movie.  Another powerful scene occurred when Jesus was teaching and was suddenly interrupted by men who brought their friend to Him who couldn’t walk.  Jesus looked at the man and said, “Your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5).  Jesus was confronted about this statement by the religious leaders because only God can forgive sins.  A religious leader even called Jesus a blasphemer in that same scene.  Once again, the movie clearly portrays Jesus as God who has the ability to forgive people from their sins.

Fact #4: The movie accurately displays Jesus’ death and resurrection.  This is the gospel message according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.  When I watched the movie, I witnessed Jesus suffer by being mocked, flogged, and crucified.  I hated watching this, but I need to be reminded of what Jesus did for me on the cross.  He gave us his life so that I might be able to have eternal life.  As a Christian, we realize that it is not just Jesus’ death that saves us from our sin, it is His resurrection which gives Him the power over sin and death.  The movie beautifully displayed how one moment the apostles were discouraged, not knowing what to do, but then after they see the empty tomb and then the resurrected Jesus, they are ready to die for the new found faith that has now so mightily gripped them to the core of their being.  The movie even stated how all the apostles (except John) died for their faith in Jesus Christ later on as they were spreading the message of the gospel.

Fact #5: The movie makes some assumptions from Scripture that I wouldn’t, and that sharpened me to know what I believe.  This movie was not word for word from any of the gospels.  That was not the intent.  I have the videos from the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Matthew.  I can relax when I watch them because it is literally the Bible being read to me as I watch it.  We have to remember that whenever we watch a movie based on past events, there will be some details presented where we are not sure whether we should agree with it or not.

For example, the movie seemed to portray Mary Magdalene as one of the apostles.  She traveled with Jesus and the apostles everywhere in the movie.  Is this biblical?  Yes and no.  No, because she is not an apostle according to the Bible because the Bible only lists twelve men as apostles (and the movie never states that she is either; it at most implies it).  Yes, because it appears that Mary Magdalene and other women traveled with Jesus “helping to support them” (read Luke 8:1-3).  Also, John’s account of the resurrection focuses on Mary Magdalene (John 20:1).  Mary Magdalene had a role in the ministry with Jesus, but was it as significant as the movie suggested?  Probably not, but we have to admit that Scripture makes clear that Mary Magdalene ministered along with the other apostles.  This brings up another point of how all four of our gospels focus on different events from Jesus’ life and different sayings of Jesus and some of the details are different.  The gospels do this because they are trying to reach a different audience.  Some of the audiences are Gentiles while other ones are Jewish.  Some of the audiences believe in many gods while others believe in one.  But the message remains the same!  All four gospels present Jesus as the Son of God who came to save the people of the world from their sins.

I have also heard complaints concerning the scene depicting Jesus and Peter in the boat catching fish.  Jesus tells Peter that they are going to “change the world.”  Some of the critics of the movie don’t like that phrasing.  They say it is not biblical.  At first, I thought it was a weird way to tell Peter that they were going to spread the gospel of the kingdom of God, but after thinking about it, changing the world is exactly what Jesus came to do.  He brought a new covenant to this planet while He was here, and that new covenant would change millions of individual lives.  I should know, because I am one of those people who have been “changed” by the message of Jesus!

So, the big question: “Would I recommend that you go and see this movie?”  The answer is: “Absolutely!”  This would be a great movie to take a friend to who doesn’t know who Jesus Christ is personally.  Take them to this movie and have dinner or coffee with them afterwards.  Start the discussion.  Remember, it could change their world!

If Shoes Could Talk

I have been preaching through a sermon series called “True Love.”  Lately, I have been focusing on the characteristics of love.  In other words, what does love look like?  One of the characteristics of love is this: “love despises evil, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6).  What does this phrase mean?  It means two things: first, if you truly love someone, you don’t want them to be tangled up in some kind of sin that will ultimately destroy their life.  You genuinely want them to be free from sin.  Second, you do not want bad things to happen to people.  You want them to be blessed, just like you want to be blessed.

Do you hate seeing people being destroyed by their sin, or does it not affect your heart?  Do you care when others are going through a difficult time in their life because a tragedy has struck them?  You might be able to say yes to each of these questions.  It is not hard to say “Yes” when sin and tragedy affect those you find easy to love.  But what about those people who rub you the wrong way?  When something bad happens to “that jerk” at work, do you find your heart a little happy that he or she got what they deserved?

Deeply loving people are merciful to everyone because they understand that God has been merciful to them.  Deeply loving people never want someone else to be hindered by evil, because they think to themselves: if I were that person and evil came on me, then I wouldn’t like that.  Deeply loving people understand Jesus’ words: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7).

How do you change your heart towards someone who doesn’t deserve good in their life?  How do you transform your mind into wanting the best for someone who rubs you the wrong way?  Exchange sneakers with them.

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What if shoes could talk?  They could tell us stories about their travels.  Some of the shoes would have boring stories, while others would have fascinating tales of adventure.  I’d like to hand you a few of my shoes that I have worn over the years so that you can venture a little deeper into my life story.  I would like to first give you a brown pair of dress shoes.  I was wearing these brown dress shoes back in 2006 when we buried our second daughter.  Her casket was tiny.  There were only a few family members with us at the cemetery for this short and yet bitter funeral service.  We named her Claire.  She would be seven years old if she wouldn’t have died.  If shoes could talk, what would they say?

Can I also hand you a pair of Nike high tops that I wore in 2009 playing basketball on Saturday mornings?  Go ahead, try them on.  Forty-five minutes into playing, I ruptured my Achilles Tendon while I was wearing them.  I had surgery that next week to repair it.  Do you know that I dislike those shoes?  It was on that morning almost five years ago that I retired from basketball.  If shoes could talk, what would they say?

I’d like you to try on one more pair of shoes.  I was wearing a pair of Reebok’s the first time I met my grandfather back in the 1990s.  Our family only spent a couple hours with him that afternoon, but I walked away from that encounter wondering how a man could turn away from his family.  Did he carry around any guilt?  Was he able to sleep at night?  I never asked my grandfather why he decided to abandon a wife and six children, but I wonder what kind of answer he would have given if I would have had the courage to ask.  This event filled me with thankfulness that my father was not like my grandfather.  In fact, he was the polar opposite.  If shoes could talk, what would they say?

I have just allowed you to wear three different pairs of shoes that I have worn in my years on this earth.  When you are having a hard time loving someone, try visualizing yourself in their life.  Wear their shoes so that you can understand where they are coming from.  This doesn’t excuse their behavior.  It doesn’t make what they have done okay.  But it does allow you to sympathize with them.

We have all met people we just don’t like.  They seem to rub us the wrong way.  This happened to me a while back.  The guy was just over the top arrogant.  He talked down to people as if he was better than them, and regularly made fun of people and would always say, “I’m just kidding.”  I found in my heart that I was really starting to dislike this guy and I just didn’t want to spend any time with him.  He asked me if he could take me out to lunch.  It is a good thing that God was working on my heart because my answer would have been, “Sorry, I think I am booked the next several months, maybe we can try in a year or two.”  But I told him, “Sure, we can go and have lunch sometime.”  As we were sitting down at our table at the restaurant eating lunch, he told me his life story.  It was a tragic upbringing.  He had a horrible family life.  I walked away from this lunch with a little more understanding of why he was so difficult to be around.  Not that it was okay how he acted, but it helped me grow in my mercy towards him.  I could sympathize better with him.  When he told me his testimony, he told me that someone showed him love and told him about Christ, and that is how he became a Christian.  He even admitted that he was still working on things in his life and he even apologized for the times when he was a little too outspoken.

Do you have someone in your life that you just don’t like?  You avoid him or her.  If you are honest with yourself, you have never even thought about where this person is spiritually with God.  Deeply loving people reach out to the “unlovable person” because they would never want someone to go to hell.  Deeply loving people want everyone to go to heaven no matter how much they might have hurt them.  That is God’s heart and if you have someone in your life where you just can’t imagine them in heaven because of something they have done to you or to someone you love, then you need to ask yourself if love is truly the supreme value in your life.  “But Jeremy, you don’t know how much that person hurt me!  I will never get over it!”  Try to understand why someone is the way they are.  It doesn’t mean that you accept what they have done, but it will help you have more mercy towards them instead of judging them for only the things you have seen them do.

If shoes could talk, what would they say?

If you would like to listen to some of the sermons in this series on TRUE LOVE, click here.