Looking for Evidence? How About Redemption and Transformation?

Like any media craze, the public’s fascination with “Duck Dynasty” and the folksy, country bumpkin-ish Robertson family has cooled somewhat. But Phil, Miss Kay and the rest of the Robertson clan remain fixtures in the American psyche, both for their duck calls and their downhome reality show antics.

 

Image from Wikipedia

The real story of how they arrived at such cultural prominence isn’t one that most viewers could possibly have imagined. Almost every episode has included some reference to faith, but until now not a lot was known about the harrowing journey the Robertsons traveled before God got their attention. The release of the theatrical film, “The Blind,” changed that.

Similar to recent Christian films like “The Chosen” and “The Sound of Freedom,” response to “The Blind” exceeded box office expectations, resulting in its nationwide run being extended by weeks. What impresses most about the excellent film is its depiction of the redemptive, life-changing power of Jesus Christ.

 

From time to time, we’ll hear someone demanding evidence of Jesus Christ, the existence of God, or why Christianity matters anyway. There’s lots of evidence – historical, archaeological, eyewitness accounts, and many other kinds. But perhaps the greatest evidence is the testimony of changed lives; individuals and families saved from absolute ruin and transformed into people filled with joy, hope, and unwavering faith and trust in the God with whom “all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).

 

In “Duck Dynasty” Phil Robertson is the kindly family patriarch, spinning yarns and pithy witticisms about life in general and faith in particular. The motto on his official website is “Faith. Family. Ducks.” But “The Blind” shows how lost and desperate Robertson and his young family were before a country preacher introduced him to Jesus Christ nearly 50 years ago.

 

Growing up in a wrong-side-of-the-tracks family, with an oft-absent father and mother suffering from mental illness, Robertson didn’t seem destined for a path from poverty to celebrity. After girlfriend Kay became pregnant, he abandoned a promising college football career to provide for his family. Alcohol, however, soon became his constant friend, along with all its destructive consequences.

 

Sometimes people must get so low in life that they have no choice but to look up. That’s where Robertson was – having lost his wife and family, home and business. Only then was he willing to hear about what Christ had done for him on the cross and respond by receiving God’s mercy and grace.

 

His story of redemption and transformation is just one of countless accounts given through the ages. There’s the apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul, a zealous Pharisee and persecutor of Christians who met Christ on the road to Damascus. Radically changed, Paul went on numerous missionary journeys proclaiming the Gospel message. In Pisidian Antioch the transformed apostle told synagogue rulers, “We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus” (Acts 13:32).

 

The song, “Amazing Grace,” is well known not only in churches but also in concert halls: “I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see.” John Newton, writer of those lyrics, penned those words from the depths of personal experience. One result of his conversion was renouncing the slave trade in which he once engaged and becoming an outspoken abolitionist, seeing slavery abolished in his native England before he died.

 

We could cite countless other examples. You probably know of some yourself – you might be one of them. Lives dramatically and eternally changed, not “cleaned up” but transformed by being born again spiritually, as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3.

 

In His parable of the prodigal son, the Lord told of a young man with the gall to demand his inheritance while his father was still living, then proceeding to squander the fortune and end up wallowing with pigs. The son, defeated and ashamed, returned home hoping to be accepted as a servant but his father ecstatically embraced him and declared, “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:24).

 

This story figuratively depicts the reception the Lord gives to each of His children who recognize the truth of Romans 3:10-12, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God…there is no one who does good, not even one.”

 

At that moment of discovery, many find God turning their despair into delight. Paul expressed triumphantly, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?... Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Roman 7:24-8:2).

Ultimately, the Christian life is one of faith, not empirical evidence. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). But the amazing outworking of that faith – lives forever changed not by personal effort but by the transforming presence of Christ through His Spirit – should be enough evidence to cause even hardened skeptics to reconsider.  

Freedom Found in the Most Unusual Places

When you hear the word “freedom,” what comes to mind? Some people would say it means you can do whatever you want. Others might envision a bird soaring on high, free to fly wherever it chooses to go. For centuries, freedom has been one of the hallmarks of the United States, although there seems to be a push in some quarters to redefine what that means.

When I think of freedom, an image emerges that I’ve often seen while driving on the interstate through Kentucky: A thoroughbred horse cavorting in a sprawling meadow, at liberty to run as fast as it wants to within the confines of the pasture fencing. It’s free, but not so free that it can run onto the nearby interstate highway, putting itself and drivers passing by at risk.

One reason I’ve been thinking about this is because of a segment I caught recently on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” It was about a highly successful prison reform program; I tuned in late, so I didn’t get the name of the initiative or where the prison was located. But a comment from one of the prisoners, serving a lifetime sentence, stuck with me.

Not all prisoners are behind bars.

This inmate had begun mentoring other prisoners, teaching them how to make positive changes in their lives, anticipating their day of release from incarceration. The interviewer asked the lifer what he gets out of investing in fellow prisoners, since he has no hope of becoming freed from prison himself.

His response was simple: “Redemption. I don’t want to die a waste.”

It’s interesting that someone many of us would regard as the least free of all people would essentially being saying that this program has given him the freedom to find meaning in life. Describing himself as having “a Ph.D. in wrong choices,” the inmate saw his involvement in mentoring as giving him the freedom to make a difference in the world, even from behind bars.

The portion of the segment I saw made no mention of a Christian or biblical basis for this approach, which was dramatically reducing recidivism among ex-offenders that have been released. But I suspect there had to be a spiritual element to it. How often have you heard the word “redemption” used in connection with someone imprisoned? 

Can it be that, like the thoroughbred horse given great freedom within safe boundaries, it’s possible to find freedom even in prison? Certainly Jesus Christ promised that. He said to those sincerely seeking to know eternal truth,“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Even within prison walls, beyond any expectation of ever venturing outside them, this inmate was experiencing freedom.

Perhaps, through Christ, he had been freed of the burden of sin and its guilt, exchanging it for blessed, eternal forgiveness. He was free to discover the joys of Jesus’ promise, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). After a lifetime of making wrong, self-centered decisions that led to his conviction and imprisonment, the inmate had become free to give, to invest himself, in others. And he was freed to start building a lasting, positive legacy despite the confines that restricted his physical movement.

It's interesting that some who have never seen the inside of a prison can actually be less free than this fellow. They might be held captives by the shackles of sins they can’t seem to overcome. Maybe they find themselves enslaved to cancerous emotions of bitterness and unforgiveness. Perhaps they’re bound by the consequences of ill-advised decisions that have dashed cherished dreams.

But the Scriptures offer us the assurance that no matter who we are, no matter where we happen to go, freedom can be ours through Jesus Christ. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

Are you free? Or are you – or someone you know – being held captive, enslaved, by feelings or circumstances that keep you from becoming the person God has intended for you to be all along? Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36). Do you believe that? And are you willing to act accordingly?

What We Learn from Good Movies

This time of year, traditional holiday movies reappear on various network and cable TV stations, social media, and on DVDs at retail stores, where you can purchase your very own copies of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Miracle on 34^th Street,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “A Christmas Story,” and others.

Hallmark channels present their own Christmas movie marathons, demonstrating how to produce the same story over and over in many different ways: Boy meets girl; girl hates boy; curious circumstances bring boy and girl together; hate turns to mere dislike, then to like and intense like; conflict pulls girl and boy apart; and finally the story ties itself into a neat bow, boy and girl deeply in love and locked arm in arm, walking toward a glorious future together.

Some critics turn up their noses at such films, dismissing them as shallow, sentimental and sappy. In some instances, they’re right. Happily-ever-after may exist in fairy tales and Disney animated films, but not so much in real life. And yet there’s something about rollercoaster storylines that end up with a smile.

Familiar images of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
tell only a small part of the redemption story.

Years ago, I attended a presentation about what good movies can teach us about biblical truth. Almost all classic films – the ones we want to watch over and over – have three common elements that reflect what the Bible teaches. In one way or another, they present us with Creation, followed by the Fall, and then Redemption.

The film starts out with characters well-defined that we grow to like in a very short time: The Creation. At some point conflict invades the scenario, putting those characters into difficulty, even peril. In many cases, it’s the result of their own bad choices, what the Scriptures define as “sin”: The Fall. Before the story ends, the intense conflict is somehow satisfactorily resolved, relationships are restored, and the viewers leave with “feel good” moods: Redemption.

Consider “It’s a Wonderful Life” as an example. George Bailey the banker is a good guy, beloved by most in his hometown of Bedford Falls. Reeling from the negligence of trusted Uncle Billy, George is pushed to the brink of suicide. Providence intervenes, using a comical angel named Clarence. George is rescued from the fatal throes of despair as he discovers his life was not the failure he supposed. Ultimately the townspeople rally around him, evil Mr. Potter’s scheme is foiled, and a merry Christmas is restored in Bedford Falls.

Recently, speaker Alistair Begg expressed this progression a bit differently. He defined the three stages as Alienation, Reconciliation, and Transformation. We see these steps repeatedly in the Bible’s Old and New Testaments.

Alienation from God, our separation from Him by sin, is clearly expressed in Romans 3:10, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” Later in the same chapter we’re told, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). There’s a chasm between us and God that we can’t cross.

The idea of Reconciliation is presented to us in Romans 5:8, which says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  This truth is restated in Romans 6:23, affirming that, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We respond to God’s love, but He initiated the reconciliation process through the atoning death of Christ on the cross.

In 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 we also read about “God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, no counting men’s sins against them….”

Finally comes the Transformation, described one verse earlier in 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Galatians 2:20 communicates the same reality when it says that each follower of Jesus can trust that, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas and Christ’s birth in just a few days, it would be good to remember that we – part of God’s creation – were subjected to the fall of man, but when Jesus came to earth in the humblest of circumstances, it was the first step in His eternal plan for our redemption. Kind of like in the movies.

Wanted: Redemption

Deep down we all long for redemption – to see the broken made whole, wrongs made right, “happy ever after.” That’s why we enjoy stories about puppies rescued from bad circumstances; disadvantaged people receiving a needed break; romantic comedies morphing like-hate relationships into true love just before the credits roll.

Someone has observed Creation, The Fall, and Redemption are common elements of all great films, reflecting the biblical narrative. Things start well, but something shatters the idyllic moment. For the rest of the film, the characters work toward resolving the problem – and pursuing redemption. We see it in movies as disparate as “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Star Wars.”

The film version of C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” introduces us to stark, snow-encrusted Narnia, where it is “always winter, but never Christmas.” By movie’s end, Narnia’s pristine beauty is restored – good conquering evil.

Two recent films also prove the point. In “Seven Pounds,” actor Will Smith’s character initiates a traffic accident killing seven people. For the remainder of the movie, he seeks to make amends by helping to save the lives of seven other individuals.

And in “Gran Torino,” Clint Eastwood’s curmudgeonly retired autoworker sees his lifetime of bitterness and bigotry transformed, culminating in a courageous act that redeems himself and his beleaguered neighbors.

Why this fascination with redemption? I believe it’s because we’re created in God’s image, and redemption has always been His prevalent theme: to redeem fallen creation to its former glory, even going to the cross to die and pay the ultimate price for our sins.

“…our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:13-14).